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Identity of British ISIS militant 'Jihadi John' revealed

February 26, 2015 at 1:08 pm

The British ISIS militant known as “Jihadi John,” who has been pictured in videos showing the beheading of Western hostages, has been named as Mohammed Emwazi, according to the BBC.

Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born British man in his mid-20s from west London, was known to British security services for some time but they chose not to reveal his name for operational reasons

In each of the videos, the militant appeared dressed in a black robe with a black balaclava covering all but his eyes and top of his nose.

Speaking with a British accent, he taunted Western powers before holding his knife to the hostages’ necks, appearing to start cutting before the film stopped. The victims’ decapitated bodies were then shown.

He first appeared in the video of the beheading of US journalist James Foley last August.

Emwazi was later featured in the beheading videos of US journalist Steven Sotloff, British aid worker David Haines, British taxi driver Alan Henning, and American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig.

ISIS claims to have beheaded three US hostages – James Foley, Peter “Abdul-Rahman” Kassig and Steven Sotloff – since August 2014, as well as British citizens David Haines and Alan Henning.

A US-led International coalition has been striking ISIS targets since mid-September 2014, aiming to help the Iraqi government and Kurdish fighters in Syria fighting the extremist organisation.