ISIS man misses pet cat, says 'hard to kill animals, beheading enemies a pleasure'

Toronto: A leader of the Islamic State group, who has been linked to a series of terror attacks in Europe, has said that he finds it difficult to kill animals but gets pleasure in beheading the 'enemies of Allah'.

According to a report in Mirror, Rachid Kassim, 29, spoke about his experience as a jihadist and about leaving his home in Gaziantep, Turkey, in an interview to a Canada-based academic who specialises in research on jihadism.

"To behead an animal, it would be difficult, with enemies of Allah, it is a pleasure," he said.

Kassim, who was born in France, said he was under constant surveillance while living in the country because of his radical views. "I thought of attacking France when I was there, and my family was afraid because of it," he said.

The jihadist shared a few details of his personal life as well and said how he misses his pet cat. Before migrating to Syria, he along with his wife and a young daughter lived in Gaziantep, Turkey.

"We left everything behind. Especially my cat. I had a wonderful cat that I left in Gaziantep. It was one of the saddest things about my hijrah (migration to Syria)," Kassim said.

He said the extremist group’s defeat in Mosul, Iraq, would not prevent them from spreading jihad. ISIS will continue to operate and jihadists in European countries will carry out attacks on home soil instead of travelling to Syria.