A mysterious grave lies amid the pulverised rubble of al-Rafush in Iraq. Beneath a thin layer of soil, a shrapnel-shredded flak jacket and bent Kalashnikov magazines lies a man called “James”.
Although his true identity rests in the grave with him, wrapped in a nylon bag placed on his chest, the Shia militia who stormed the village three months ago insist that James was a foreign fighter for Islamic State — a Muslim convert from Britain who left his home to die in the savage fighting east of Fallujah.
So certain are they of James’s nationality that they placed a marker beside his lonely battlefield grave, believing that one day British authorities may wish to repatriate his corpse. “Tomb of the British Daesh [Isis] James,”