American intelligence agencies believe they have identified the ISIS militant who appeared in the videos in which two American journalists and one British aid worker were beheaded.
FBI director James B. Comey made the announcement on Thursday but declined to reveal the name and the nationality of the man. He added that the US still does not know whether the man carried out himself the beheadings as these are not shown in the videos.
Intelligence agencies have used multiple technologies in the identification of the militant mainly voice-recognition technology. Overhead imagery and records of Western fighters who joined ISIS were used as well.
The executioner, dressed head-to-toe in black and holding a knife in the three videos, speaks in a British accent. That led to a focus on men who hold British passports and are believed to have joined ISIS.
British officials were focusing their suspicions on a rapper who was believed to have joined ISIS in Syria but this assumption turned out to be wrong according to an FBI official. According to the British government, over 400 British nationals have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS.
The Moroccan Times.
