British Authorities Hope to Unmask New ‘Jihadi John’
LONDON— -- Investigators are working to identify an Islamic State fighter with a British accent featured in a propaganda video released over the weekend, officials said.
"We are examining the content of the video," a British Home Office spokesman told ABC News today.
In the 10-minute online release, the masked militant addresses British Prime Minister David Cameron directly before apparently shooting five Syrian men in the head. It's unclear where and when it was made.
The jihadist reportedly could be Abu Rumaysah, a British national who was arrested in September 2014, skipped bail and fled to Syria. ABC News has not confirmed those media reports.
The video is an attempt to divert attention from their military failures in Iraq and their inability to take care of citizens in the areas they control, a British official told ABC News.
In a statement released today, the Ministry of Defense says “RAF Tornado, Typhoon and Reaper [fighter aircraft] have flown intensive armed reconnaissance missions across Syria and Iraq,” with repeated successful attacks against terrorist positions in Ramadi and northern Iraq in recent days.
Investigators are also working to identify a young boy featured in the video wearing military fatigues and saying in English: "We are going to go kill the kaffir [non-believers] over there."
He is reportedly Isa Dare, the son of jihadi bride Grace "Khadija" Dare of Lewisham, southeast London. She had posted a picture on social media in July of Isa’s aiming an AK-47 automatic rifle. ABC News has not confirmed those media reports.
On a visit to east London today, Cameron responded to the video, saying, “It's desperate stuff from an organization that really does do the most utterly despicable and ghastly acts and people can see that again today.”
“They hate us not for what we do but for what we are - the fact that we are a successful, tolerant, democratic, multi-faith, multi-ethnic nation,” Cameron said, before adding: “I know that Britain will never be cowed by this sort of terrorism. Our values are so much stronger than theirs. It may take a very long time but they will be defeated."
The radical Islamist group previously released propaganda videos showing killings by British national Mohammed Emwazi, who became known as “Jihadi John,” and was killed in a U.S. drone strike in November.
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