2 British ISIS Members Say Beheading of Hostages in Syria Were a Mistake

Two British militants believed to have belonged to an Islamic State group cell notorious for beheading hostages in Syria said Friday that their home country’s revoking of their citizenship denies them the possibility of a fair trial. One of them said the killings of captives was “a mistake” and could have been avoided.

The men were allegedly among four British jihadis who made up the IS cell nicknamed “The Beatles” by surviving captives because of their English accents. The cell held more than 20 Western hostages in Syria and became known for its brutality, torturing its captives and beheading several American, British and Japanese journalists and aid workers and Syrian soldiers in 2014 and 2015.

The two men, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Amon Kotey, spoke to The Associated Press at a detention center in northern Syria in their first interview with the media. They were captured in early January in eastern Syria by the Kurdish-led, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces amid the collapse of IS.

They spoke openly of their membership in the Islamic State group but refused to say what their role was. They called the allegations that they belonged to the “Beatles” cell and were involved in kidnappings and killings “propaganda” — but they refused to address specifics.

Asked about the beheadings of American journalist James Foley and other victims, Kotey said many in IS “would have disagreed” with the killings “on the grounds that there is probably more benefit in them being political prisoners.”

“I didn’t see any benefit. It was something that was…