Could White Widow still be ALIVE? Doubts arise over most-wanted female terrorist's death
DOUBTS have been raised today as to whether 'White Widow' terror suspect Samantha Lewthwaite is really dead.
The Kremlin's official newspaper has said it is too early to tell whether the 30-year-old Briton had been killed fighting in the Ukraine.
Earlier this week, a Moscow news agency claimed Lewthwaite was gunned down by a sniper fighting for pro-Russian rebel forces.
But no-one has seen her body after her supposed death in the Debaltsevo area and the journalist who made the claim has been accused of inventing it for anti-Ukrainian propoganda reasons.
Today Alexey Toporov defended his claims, saying: "Those whose duty it was saw the body.
"This was her. I cannot add anything."
He claimed he had "no authority" to give further facts.
Rossiskaya Gazeta, the official newspaper of Vladimir Putin's government, claimed that Britain is "checking information" about Lewthwaite's alleged death.
It did not give further details.
But it added: "Having analysed the known facts of the woman terrorist's biography and compared them with what happened in the Debaltsevo area, it is quite hard to confirm or deny the fact of her death.
"It is too early to put a full stop at the end of Samantha's life - until we see solid proof of her death."
Journalist Mr Toporov from Regnum news agency in Moscow claimed that Lewthwaite used a South African passport in a fake name - Natalie Faye Webb - to enter Ukraine.
He published an image of the passport, stating: "Here are the fake documents the "White Widow" used in order to get into Ukraine."
Those whose duty it was saw the body. This was her
However the identical image of the passport has been published previously in the West, suggesting he did not have access to it in Ukraine.
Lewthwaite is one of Britain's most wanted people and last month was reported to be fighting for the so-called Islamic State terror group in Syria.
She was married to 7/7 suicide bomber Germaine Lindsay, 19, a Jamaican-born Yorkshireman, and allegedly left Britain in 2009 before being linked to atrocities in Africa.
Mr Toporov, a supporter of the separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine, made the initial claim she had been killed, adding: "It is said that her death was not quick - which was the right way to do it."
His words implied that the jihadist suffered a lingering death after being shot by "a young but already experienced sniper volunteer from Russia.
Mr Toporov had claimed Lewthwaite was deployed as a sniper in the Donetsk region.
He added: "The White Widow ended in a bad way. To be more exact, she ended up killing people," he added.
"This viper, who organised the attack on a shopping centre in Nairobi where people including women and children were shot dead because they could not tell the name of Muhammad's first wife, was using false name and fighting in Donbass.
"She was a sniper in one of the [Ukrainian] punishment battalions, supposedly Aidar. She killed many of our guys.
"At the end, she was shot by a young but already very experienced sniper volunteer from Russia.
"He did not even care for the $5million [£3.2million] promised by Interpol for the head of this viper."
Once seen as a innocent home counties wife, Lewthwaite has since become one of the most notorious fugitives on the planet.
For the last three years British, American and Kenyan security services have been chasing her, with some reports suggesting she may have employed plastic surgery to evade capture.
Born in Northern Ireland and schooled in Aylesbury, she was not previously linked to Ukraine.
