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German rapper, now jihadist still alive in Syria

Deso Dogg, aka Abu Talha al-Almani, was thought to have been killed in an airstrike, but recent videos reveal that he is alive and active among jihadists in Syria.
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The video shows the apparently lifeless body of a man on a stretcher. His shirt is pulled up, and a rescuer pumps his chest as if the man’s heart has stopped. The shirt is soaked in blood. Additional footage reveals a deep wound to the top of the man’s head. His face is clearly visible and instantly recognizable — Abu Talha al-Almani, aka Deso Dogg, the much-celebrated German rapper-turned-jihadist. Almani turned up in Syria last summer as a sort of poet-mujahid, singing a cappella (in keeping with Sharia) the praises of jihad against President Bashar al-Assad in the land of al-Sham.

The images of Abu Talha were originally posted in mid-November by the German Islamist website Tauhid-Germany. Emerging two months after Abu Talha was reportedly wounded in an attack by the Syrian air force in rebel-controlled territory in northern Syria, the video quickly sparked reports in both the German and international media that the former rapper was dead. Video has surfaced in the meantime, however, indicating that he is still very much alive.

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