(MyFoxBoston.com) -- The head of the FBI said Thursday that his agency knows the true identity of the ISIS fighter seen in videos executing two American journalists and a British aid worker.
The masked man is known publicly only as Jihad John. That name came from ISIS hostages who were released. They spoke of four British men, who they nicknamed the Beatles, that spent a lot of time with the hostages. They say the four are exceptionally cruel, and that Jihad is the worst.
He speaks in the videos with a British accent. There's been a lot of speculation that Jihad may be a 23-year-old rapper named Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary. Reports say he abandoned a multimillion dollar home in England to join ISIS in Syria.
He looks like the masked man in the video, but is he the same guy? There are reports indicating he's not. And Thursday, the director of the FBI told reporters that his agency had identified Jihad, but haven't revealed the terrorist's name or nationality.
In the latest video, Jihad threatens the life of Alan Henning, another British citizen. In the videos Jihad personally taunts the President Barack Obama, and complains about US airstrikes.
We don't know how authorities put a name to Jihad. There were reports that investigators were pouring over the videos, using facial recognition software, and comparing the terrorist's voice with other recordings. Investigators were even looking at the veins on Jihad's bare hands as markers to try and identify this man.
Since the US led airstrikes into Syria began, another group posted a beheading video of a French man in Algiers, but Jihad has been quiet. We don't know his fate, or the fate of other western hostages he may be holding, but all of that could change at any time.