On Thursday, recently found records leaked to German intelligence and British media show the identities of about 22,000 alleged Islamist militants who joined the Islamic State. The information was included in forms that new recruits had to fill, and thus, it could help federal agencies to track down Islamic group jihadists.
According to German intelligence agencies, thousands of documents showed nationals from all over the world joining the Islamic State. The reports show at least 4 fighters came from the United States, 16 other were from Britain and six other fighters from Canada. In addition, several German and French recruits were found in the archives.
Strangely enough for a secretive group like the Islamic State, the documents contain detailed information including, names, phone numbers of people from 51 countries such as Britain, northern Europe, north Africa, the Middle East, Canada and the United States.
Now that the identities of over 22,000 IS group members is known and has been passed on to pertinent agencies, there’s an advantage for British and German security services to do something about it.
The documents were allegedly provided by a disappointed IS fighter called Abu Hamed, who claims to be disillusioned with the group’s leadership. The man supposedly stole a memory stick from the head of the Islamic State internal security force and later turned it in on a city in Turkey.
New tactics against terrorism
While the situation is rather fragile, the new information could lead security agencies to track down Islamic State leaders, or help prevent any other planned terrorist attack.
“The German Federal Bureau of Investigation acts on the assumption that the documents are authentic,” said German Secretary Mr. de Maiziere. “We can also improve our understanding of the structures of this terror organization.”
At the very least, the identities of the known IS fighters should be publicly announced, although some people could claim the opposite as the effects after the names are revealed are unknown for the time being.
While the interior ministry of Britain refuses to comment on national security matters, information needs to come out as the British media already caught people’s attention to the matter.
The government will look at how this information can be used in order to aid the fight against Daesh, according to a spokeswoman for Britain’s Prime Minister. It’s important to know that the Islamic State can be also referred to as Daesh or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The documents found by German federal were confirmed to be genuine as the German jihadists were successfully tracked down in the country’s records.
Source: BBC