Friends of Mohammed Emwazi, as well as two U.S. government officials, say that they have identified Emwazi as the terrorist clad in black complete with black mask, that has appeared center stage in several recent IS videos depicting the beheading of hostages, but the security agencies of several nations refuse to confirm if this is in fact true.

National Security Council Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan said today,  “We will not comment on ongoing investigations and therefore are not in a position to confirm or deny the identity of this individual.” The British government echoed that statement and also refuse to confirm the identity of the tall, black clad man with the English accent known as Jihad John. Other security agencies in Europe also refuse to confirm the identity of the terrorist.

.The world has sought the identity of the masked man since his first video in August where he appeared in a video with James Foley prior to his beheading. Since that time Jihad John has appeared in a further two videos of other American hostages, two hostage videos depicting two British nationals as well as a further two videos showing two Japanese hostages that were later beheaded by IS.

The man, Emwazi, believed to be Jihad John, is thought to be in his mid-20s and to have lived in West London since the age of six after he moved with family from Kuwait. He attended the University of Westminster, where he graduated with a degree in computer programming six years ago. Authorities believe that Emwazi became radicalized after trips to the middle east as well as Africa. He had been detained in Tanzania after arriving there, questioned, and eventually deported back to England.

In England, Emwazi was further interrogated and accused of trying to make his way to Somalia where it is believed he was going to make contact with a member of al-Shabab.

Emwazi request to travel to Kuwait from England was refused after that . Emwazi would later travel to Syria beginning in 2012.

Although he has an address in London, efforts to contact him there failed.

  beheadings, hostages, jihd john, mahammed emwazi, terrorist, videos