FBI says it has ID on ‘Jihadi John’ of Islamic State’s beheading videos

The U.S. believes it has identified the British-accented masked man in the videos depicting the beheadings of two American journalists and a British aid worker, said the FBI’s director, James Comey. He told reporters at the agency’s headquarters he would not reveal the man’s name or nationality. Comey did not address whether the U.S. believes the man actually carried out the killings himself. The beheadings are not shown in the videos.

I believe that we have identified him, I’m not going to tell you who I believe it is…We will do and expend the effort that I think the American people would want us to and expect us to [capture him].

James Comey, FBI director

In late August, British Ambassador Peter Westmacott said his country was close to identifying the Islamic State group militant. On Wednesday, a “copy cat” video of the IS beheadings was released by the terrorist organization “Caliphate Soldiers,” based in Syria. They murdered a French mountaineer who was kidnapped in Algeria, though their video was distinctly different than that of IS, in which “John” is featured and gives the final speech in English. Earlier this week, IS released a propaganda video featuring another hostage, John Cantlie, in which he reads a script denouncing the Western media and airstrikes against IS occupied territory.

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