Jeremy Corbyn refuses to say he would have ordered Sally Jones airstrike
The Labour leader suggests he would rather the Islamic State jihadist had been captured and put on trial.
Thursday 12 October 2017 15:25, UK
Jeremy Corbyn has refused to say whether he would have ordered a drone strike on British jihadist Sally Jones.
The former punk rocker, who became a leading recruitment officer for Islamic State, was close to the Iraq/Syria border.
Mr Corbyn claimed Jones' death, if confirmed, would be "significant" but the Labour leader suggested he would rather she had been captured and put on trial.
Jones, from Kent, has been accused of plotting terror attacks in the UK, including against the Queen.
Asked directly whether he would have authorised a lethal strike on the extremist in order to prevent British armed forces being put at risk of harm, Mr Corbyn said: "It's difficult to give an answer to that question, which is hypothetical.
"We have to look very carefully at the effects on the civilian population of any bombing that takes place before such a decision is made.
"You have to look at all the facts of it."
On Jones' apparent death, he added: "People who have committed crimes ought to be put on trial and that way of course, when you interrogate somebody you get more information about the background to it."
Speaking during a visit to a community centre in Shipley, West Yorkshire, Mr Corbyn also urged progress in peace talks over war-torn Syria.
"What we now have to do is look to the next phase in Syria, which is to bring everyone back around the table to get a political solution because you cannot go on with having a war forever," he said.
In 2015, Mr Corbyn was rebuked by his own MPs after the Labour leader suggested it would have been "far better" if the IS militant Mohammed Emwazi, dubbed "Jihadi John", had faced a court rather than been killed in a drone strike.
Jones was married to fellow British jihadist Junaid Hussain, who was was killed in a US drone strike in August 2015.
It was recently claimed that she was , Syria, and return to the UK.