Agency director James Comey told reporters today that he knew who the militant was but would not be releasing his identity or nationality to the media.
The executioner, who has a British accent and has been dubbed Jihadi John, is one of four British jihadis known as the 'Beatles' holding hostages in Syria.
He appears in the group’s execution videos wielding a knife – and taunts President Obama before carrying out the killings
Today British officials would not say if the identity had been shared with the authorities on London, and would not be drawn on whether any arrests are imminent.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: 'We won't be commenting on matters of security at this stage.'
Comey said the FBI believes that ISIS is 'looking to try to do something in the U.S.,' but added he did not believe the group is capable of a sophisticated or complex attack.
During questioning from reporters at the FBI headquarters Comey also spoke about Khorasan group, an al Qaeda affiliate who were targeted along with ISIS by American airstrikes in Syria earlier this week.
He said he was 'not confident at all' the threat from Khorasan militant group was thwarted by the airstrikes.
'We don't have complete visibility about their activities.
'We believe they've been working toward an attack, but it's hard to say whether it would come tomorrow, in three weeks, or in three months,' he said.
Comey added the FBI is still working hard to identify two people in ISIS videos who appear to have American or Canadian accents.
'We have a big focus going on that right now,' Comey said.
He said about a dozen Americans are believed to be fighting with extremist groups in Syria at the moment.
He says more than 100 Americans have either tried to go to Syria and been arrested, gone successfully, or gone and come back.
The figure of 100 has often been misinterpreted to represent the number of U.S. citizens fighting in Syria.
Comey says all the Americans who have returned after fighting with extremist groups are either under investigation, under surveillance or have been arrested.
The director says he's not confident the U.S. has identified every American who had joined up with militants in Syria.
Yesterday British Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond revealed intelligence agencies were closing the net on Jihadi John.
Hammond, who just ten days ago admitted special forces didn't know where the Islamic terror group was holding its British hostages, said the investigation into tracking down the killer with the British accent was 'narrowing down the field'.
Speaking to American television network CNN at the United Nations summit in New York, Mr Hammond said: 'We are getting warm, we are working on all the leads.
'There's a big investigation and we are getting warm. We're narrowing down the field, but I don't want to say any more at this stage.'
Earlier this week it was revealed that US spy planes are flying above Britain monitoring telephone and computer signals in a bid to track down Jihadi John and those who are communicating with him.
The aircraft, manned by British pilots and carrying FBI agents, are equipped with technology so advanced they can detect heat coming off a keyboard when a button is pressed.
A source revealed Jihadi John, comes from a South London suburb about 10 miles from Central London.
The signals and data collected by the spy planes is being sent back to the US to be analysed, the Sunday Express reported.
An FBI source told the paper: 'Electronic footprints might help us pinpoint the location of the British IS executioner because we believe there are associates of his in the UK who are directly communicating with him.'
Culled from mail online.
No comments:
Post a Comment