Officials: U.S. military has custody of ISIS militants who tortured Western hostages

Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Two Islamic State militants have been turned over to the United States military by Kurdish fighters who had been holding them in a prison in Syria, a U.S. official told Reuters on Wednesday.

A second U.S. official said the men were part of a cell nicknamed "The Beatles," because there were four of them and they are British. They tortured Western hostages and played a role in the murders of several Americans, including journalist James Foley in 2014. The militants, Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, are now in Iraq, The Washington Post reports.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.