James Foley: British Muslims urge cooperation in hunt for militant with 'London accent' who killed US journalist - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Muslim leaders in Britain have called on their communities to help establish the identity of the black-clad man who murdered US journalist James Foley.
The man, who was filmed beheading the US journalist, speaks in an English accent in the video of the Islamic State (IS) atrocity.
Reports have emerged that the man is one of a group of British jihadists, nicknamed 'The Beatles' by their captives, who have been holding Western hostages.
The Muslim Council of Britain, the largest Muslim umbrella group in the country, condemned the "abhorrent murder" of Foley and called for united action by Muslims to stop the "poison of extremism" infiltrating their communities.
"We condemn unreservedly [IS's] psychopathic violence, whether it is on minorities, on civilians, or on fellow Muslims," the council said in a statement.
"We are horrified at the abhorrent murder of James Foley, a reporter who initially went to the region to expose the human rights abuses of the Syrian regime."
The Guardian said a former hostage had identified the man in the video as the leader of three Britons who had guarded foreign nationals in the city of Raqqa - an Islamic State stronghold in eastern Syria.
The BBC also reported the presence of three British jihadists who were tasked by IS to guard foreign prisoners.
The US Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into Foley's death.
A US official said American investigators were urgently attempting to "identify and capture" the man in the video.
It had been revealed Foley's captors had demanded a ransom of $132 million for his release.
His family had been attempting to raise the money but the US government is opposed to paying ransoms in kidnapping cases or encouraging third parties to do so.
Killer had lived in Britain for a long time: official
British prime minister David Cameron said it looked increasingly likely the man in the IS video was British, one of hundreds who have travelled to Syria to fight.
A number of phonetics experts have said the militant's speech suggests he has a so-called multicultural London accent, commonly spoken in the city's East End.
A European security official said that judging from his accent the man had lived in Britain for a long time.
Authorities were comparing his voice to those on record to try to establish his identity and determine if the video had been dubbed, the official said.
Phonetics professor Jane Setter, from the University of Reading, said the speaker was likely to be from the London area.
"If this speaker is from the UK, they're probably from the London area. The accent is also sometimes referred to as Jafaican. It has some features of Afro-Caribbean languages and it's a language, an accent, which seems to be replacing Cockney among younger speakers in London," Professor Setter said.
After last year's murder of a British soldier by extremists on a London street, a taskforce was set up to support Muslim groups tackling radicalisation.
Iqbal Sacranie, an adviser to the Muslim Council, told London's Evening Standard newspaper that anyone who recognised the man had a duty to contact police.
Britain, which has about 2.7 million Muslims in its 63 million population, had previously warned about the increasing numbers of its nationals who had travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight.
Police have previously said that half the estimated 400 to 500 British citizens thought to be fighting as insurgents in Syria and Iraq come from the UK capital.
Four young British Islamists - two of whom had been to Al Qaeda training camps in Pakistan - killed 52 people in suicide bomb attacks on London in July 2005, and Britons have appeared in graphic Islamist videos before.
Richard Barrett, a former British security official and former coordinator of the UN Al Qaeda Taliban Monitoring Team, said he expected the authorities to identify the man pretty quickly, and that arresting him would be the long-term objective.
"The most important thing is to demonstrate that there's a legal system, that you cannot do these things even in the middle of the desert, just because you are in something called Islamic State or the caliphate," he said.
British police have urged Muslim women to dissuade young people in their communities from turning towards IS, in one of many tactics used by European governments worried about the future security risk posed by youths radicalised by war.
Ghaffar Hussain, managing director of counter-extremism think-tank Quilliam, said it was now almost inevitable that people who had fought in Syria would come back to try to launch attacks in Europe.
"It is disturbing that people born and raised in Britain and who have gone to the same schools as us could have been essentially indoctrinated to the extent where they can justify raping women and chopping heads off," he said.
The success of the Islamic State is also likely to draw more people into the group, which has proclaimed a caliphate in the parts of Iraq and Syria it controls.
"We know ... that the threat which is being taken most seriously is the risk of the return of those who have been radicalised, to the point of being jihadists," British politician Menzies Campbell said.
"If anyone's in doubt as to the brutality of those who have been radicalised in that way, then this incident should certainly remove that doubt."
Muslim leaders in Britain have called on their communities to help establish the identity of the black-clad man who murdered US journalist James Foley.
The man, who was filmed beheading the US journalist, speaks in an English accent in the video of the Islamic State (IS) atrocity.
Reports have emerged that the man is one of a group of British jihadists, nicknamed 'The Beatles' by their captives, who have been holding Western hostages.
The Muslim Council of Britain, the largest Muslim umbrella group in the country, condemned the "abhorrent murder" of Foley and called for united action by Muslims to stop the "poison of extremism" infiltrating their communities.
"We condemn unreservedly [IS's] psychopathic violence, whether it is on minorities, on civilians, or on fellow Muslims," the council said in a statement.
"We are horrified at the abhorrent murder of James Foley, a reporter who initially went to the region to expose the human rights abuses of the Syrian regime."
The Guardian said a former hostage had identified the man in the video as the leader of three Britons who had guarded foreign nationals in the city of Raqqa - an Islamic State stronghold in eastern Syria.
The BBC also reported the presence of three British jihadists who were tasked by IS to guard foreign prisoners.
The US Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into Foley's death.
A US official said American investigators were urgently attempting to "identify and capture" the man in the video.
It had been revealed Foley's captors had demanded a ransom of $132 million for his release.
His family had been attempting to raise the money but the US government is opposed to paying ransoms in kidnapping cases or encouraging third parties to do so.
Killer had lived in Britain for a long time: official
British prime minister David Cameron said it looked increasingly likely the man in the IS video was British, one of hundreds who have travelled to Syria to fight.
A number of phonetics experts have said the militant's speech suggests he has a so-called multicultural London accent, commonly spoken in the city's East End.
A European security official said that judging from his accent the man had lived in Britain for a long time.
Authorities were comparing his voice to those on record to try to establish his identity and determine if the video had been dubbed, the official said.
Phonetics professor Jane Setter, from the University of Reading, said the speaker was likely to be from the London area.
"If this speaker is from the UK, they're probably from the London area. The accent is also sometimes referred to as Jafaican. It has some features of Afro-Caribbean languages and it's a language, an accent, which seems to be replacing Cockney among younger speakers in London," Professor Setter said.
After last year's murder of a British soldier by extremists on a London street, a taskforce was set up to support Muslim groups tackling radicalisation.
Iqbal Sacranie, an adviser to the Muslim Council, told London's Evening Standard newspaper that anyone who recognised the man had a duty to contact police.
Britain, which has about 2.7 million Muslims in its 63 million population, had previously warned about the increasing numbers of its nationals who had travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight.
Police have previously said that half the estimated 400 to 500 British citizens thought to be fighting as insurgents in Syria and Iraq come from the UK capital.
Four young British Islamists - two of whom had been to Al Qaeda training camps in Pakistan - killed 52 people in suicide bomb attacks on London in July 2005, and Britons have appeared in graphic Islamist videos before.
Richard Barrett, a former British security official and former coordinator of the UN Al Qaeda Taliban Monitoring Team, said he expected the authorities to identify the man pretty quickly, and that arresting him would be the long-term objective.
"The most important thing is to demonstrate that there's a legal system, that you cannot do these things even in the middle of the desert, just because you are in something called Islamic State or the caliphate," he said.
British police have urged Muslim women to dissuade young people in their communities from turning towards IS, in one of many tactics used by European governments worried about the future security risk posed by youths radicalised by war.
Ghaffar Hussain, managing director of counter-extremism think-tank Quilliam, said it was now almost inevitable that people who had fought in Syria would come back to try to launch attacks in Europe.
"It is disturbing that people born and raised in Britain and who have gone to the same schools as us could have been essentially indoctrinated to the extent where they can justify raping women and chopping heads off," he said.
The success of the Islamic State is also likely to draw more people into the group, which has proclaimed a caliphate in the parts of Iraq and Syria it controls.
"We know ... that the threat which is being taken most seriously is the risk of the return of those who have been radicalised, to the point of being jihadists," British politician Menzies Campbell said.
"If anyone's in doubt as to the brutality of those who have been radicalised in that way, then this incident should certainly remove that doubt."
