A BRITISH jihadist believed to have sacrificed himself in a suicide attack in Iraq was an easily led man who may have been "brainwashed", friends have said.

The married father-of-two, named as Kabir Ahmed, 32, from Derby, is believed to have died in a suicide bomb attack in the town of Beiji, north of Baghdad, two days ago. Using the name Abu Sumayyah, he was filmed by the BBC in July admitting being a member of terrorist group Islamic State.

His death makes Ahmed the second British jihadist suicide bomber, after Abdul Waheed Majeed, a 41-year-old father-of-three from Crawley in West Sussex, blew himself up in February in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

Those who knew Ahmed said he was impressionable. Aleem Sheid, 33, a neighbour of Ahmed's family in Derby, said: "It makes me feel very upset to hear a young man with a young family has been brainwashed and done this.

"Nobody's born bad, it's people around you that make you behave bad and push you down a certain way."

Another resident, who declined to be named, said: "I can honestly say - no disrespect - that he was not the brightest of lads. He was a follower, not a leader. You could ask him to do something and he would do it, he was that sort of guy."

The Foreign Office is now looking into the incident. A spokesman said: "We are aware of reports of the death of a British national in Iraq and are looking into them."