White Widow Samantha Lewthwaite killed – report

The British government continues to seek confirmation that Samantha Lewthwaite, dubbed the White Widow, has been gunned down by pro-Moscow rebel forces in eastern Ukraine.

News agency, Regnum, in Moscow, reported that Lewthwaite had been killed while fighting against pro-Russian rebels as a sniper for the Ukrainian volunteer battalion Aidar.

Regnum offered no proof or source for its claim.

British officials said they had no information that Lewthwaite had been in Ukraine, according to Daily Mail.

A senior intelligence officer in East Africa reportedly said on Wednesday: “All the evidence is she remains in Africa, we have not seen any evidence she is in Ukraine – dead or alive.”

Travelling with a false South African passport, Lewthwaite, widow of 2005 London suicide bomber Germaine Lindsay, reportedly moved frequently between South Africa, Kenya, Britain and Pakistan.

Lewthwaite was allegedly seen in the Johannesburg suburbs of Fordsburg and Mayfair last year.

A picture of a South African passport later emerged bearing Lewthwaite’s photograph with the name Natalie Faye Webb.

In August, Kenyan detectives hunting Lewthwaite were ordered to appear in court after failing to heed previous summons to provide updates on their search, the SA Press Association reported.

“We have tried to arrest her, but she keeps on changing her identity and location,” said Abednego Kilonzo, a police chief inspector, said in a statement.

“She must have a new name from the previous ones,” the statement added.