Militant in Beheading Videos Has Been Identified, F.B.I. Chief Says
American intelligence agencies believe they have identified the Islamic State militant who appeared on two videotapes in which American journalists were beheaded, the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, said Thursday, but he declined to name the man while agents from the United States and Britain were searching for him.
Intelligence agencies have used voice-recognition technology, overhead imagery and records of Western fighters who are believed to have joined the group in the effort to identify the killer, who first appeared in a video a month ago showing the beheading of James Foley. A second gruesome video, showing the death of Steven J. Sotloff, was released about two weeks later. Both men were freelance journalists.
For a while, British officials focused their suspicions on a rapper who they believed had gone to Syria to fight. Now “the assumption is that was wrong,” one official said.
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