WASHINGTON — The FBI is using some of the propaganda of the Islamic State militants to try to track down its American members. And it wants your help.
“We need the public’s assistance in identifying U.S. persons going to fight overseas with terrorist groups or who are returning home from fighting overseas,” said Michael Steinbach, assistant director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, in an appeal to the public on its website.
To facilitate public assistance, a video was posted at FBI.gov with the following question: “Do you recognize this man? This segment of a 55-minute ISIL propaganda video features an English-speaking man with what is believed to be a North American accent.”
In the video, a man dressed in fatigues with his face covered by a black mask with his eyes exposed, speaks both Arabic and English with ease.
“We’re here with the soldiers of Bashar, digging their own graves in the very place where they were stationed,” he says.
Later in the video, the man reveals a gun as the men who were digging are shown kneeling in front of the open pit they dug. The video fades to black as the man readies his weapon to shoot them.
The FBI hopes someone might recognize the man through his voice and appearance. In the segment, the faces of purported prisoners are obscured and their executions are not shown.
According to the FBI website, “Several videos have been released in recent months showing the beheadings of American, French, and English journalists and aid workers.”
The website also says “the speaker — and executioner — in those videos has a British accent and authorities have said they now know his identity. The propaganda video highlighted features a fluent English speaker and appears to be a highly stylized recruitment tool designed to lure Westerners to ISIL’s cause.”
Anyone with information is asked to send tips to www.fbi.gov/ISILtips or call 1-800-CALL-FBI with information.
Follow @WTOP on Twitter and on the WTOP Facebook page.
