A father in Wales said on Monday he believes his son, a British medical student, was among a squad of ISIS jihadists filmed beheading Syrian soldiers in a video posted online on Sunday.
Ahmed Muthana told the Daily Mail newspaper his 20-year-old son Nasser Muthana appeared to be among a group of 16 jihadists who were seen on the video, which also showed the severed head of American hostage Peter Kassig.
“I cannot be certain, but it looks like my son,” said Ahmed Muthana, who lives in the Welsh capital city of Cardiff.
“He must fear Allah now for killing people. How can he expect to face Allah if he is killing human beings?”
The announcement of aid worker Kassig’s death, the fifth such killing of a Western captive by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, formed part of the 15-minute video which showed the beheadings of at least 14 men ISIS said were pilots and officers loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
In this undated photo provided by the Kassig Family, Peter Kassig is shown with an injured kitten which he rescued and nursed back to health. (Kassig family/Associated Press)
ISIS includes thousands of foreign combatants and has become a magnet for jihadi volunteers from Europe and North America, Western intelligence agencies have said.
France’s top security official said Monday a Frenchman suspected of joining fighters for ISIS is believed to be among the killers in a video that showed a beheaded American aid worker and a dozen Syrian soldiers.
The British Foreign office declined to comment.
Frenchman seen among beheaders
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said that there is a “strong presumption” that Frenchman Maxime Hauchard is among the group of Islamic extremist fighters in the video released over the weekend.
Cazeneuve said authorities are analyzing the video and have been investigating Hauchard, who is about 22 and from west of Paris.
French citizens make up the largest contingent of European jihadi fighters who have joined extremists in Syria and Iraq. According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, about 1,100 people have been placed under surveillance, and 95 people face charges.
ISIS has previously released videos of the beheading of two American and two British men which feature a masked, black-clad militant brandishing a knife and speaking with an English accent, who has been dubbed “Jihadi John” by British media.
Sunday’s video showed most of the killers unmasked, and the Daily Mail said the man who appeared to be Nasser Muthana was standing alongside Jihadi John.
Nasser Muthana had already appeared in a online video released in June urging Muslims to join ISIS.
His younger brother Aseel had also travelled to Syria after both were radicalized in Cardiff, his father told the BBC in June. Nasser Muthana’s school friend Reyaad Khan also appeared in the online footage in June, various media reports said.
