Militant in new Islamic State video may be of Indian origin

London, January 5

Advertisement

The militant dubbed "new Jihadi John" who has appeared in the latest Islamic State video threatening attacks on the UK is believed to be a British Muslim convert of Indian origin, media reports said on Tuesday.

Siddhartha Dhar, also known as Abu Rumaysah, had jumped bail and fled Britain in 2014 with his wife and their four children to join Islamic state in Syria.

Born a Hindu, the 32-year-old ran a business renting out bouncy castles in London before converting to Islam and joining the radical Islamist group Al Muhajiroun.

An official source told the BBC that Dhar is the focus of investigations into the video, which purports to show the killing of five men Islamic State says were spying for the UK.

‘Oppressive’

Khadijah Dare is also a keen propagandist for the group who has posted images of herself and her toddler son pointing rifles on social media.

Reported to have been radicalised online, Dare left London for Syria in 2012 with Isa, then a baby. Having made her way to territory controlled by Islamic State, she married a jihadi of Swedish origin known as Abu Bakr, now thought to be dead.

The couple appeared together in footage filmed in Syria in 2013, joking about which of them had the best AK47.

A trail of videos also offers some insight into Dhar's world view.

In one posted on his YouTube website, titled "The beauty of the Shariah and the Caliphate", he said: "I've grown up in the West, I've lived in the United Kingdom all my life, I've seen what a democracy has to offer and quite frankly it's quite oppressive".

Dhar's mother and sister have also watched the video, released by Islmaic state , and noticed similarities between the voice of the masked terrorist, being referred to as the "new Jihadi John" by the British media, and that of Dhar.

"I heard the voice, yes, but I don't know, I'm not sure of the voice. These are the most difficult questions to answer. I just cannot say. I'm not sure within myself whether it is the truth or not," his mother Sobita Dhar told ‘The Daily Telegraph'.

His sister, Konika Dhar, from north London, said: "I believed the audio to resemble, from what I remember, the voice of my brother but having viewed the short clip in detail, I wasn't entirely convinced, which put me at ease. I can't believe it. This is just so shocking for me. I don't know what the authorities are doing to confirm the identity, but I need to know if it is".

She said her brother had converted to Islam more than 10 years ago and her memories of him are from when they were children and teenagers.

"He was a very pleasant boy, and I know it may be hard to believe but he still is, and I still believe that he still can be that person," she added.

His sister Konika told British media the man in the video sounded just like her brother, echoing the views of others who knew him well. However, neither she nor security experts said they could be certain it was him.

British intelligence officials are analysing the film and a security source said they had not yet reached a conclusion as to the man's identity.

British officials say up to 800 Britons have travelled to Iraq and Syria, some to join Islamic State, and around half had returned home. About 70 were believed to have been killed.

The footage was reminiscent of the gruesome beheadings shown in videos featuring Londoner Mohammed Emwazi, who gained worldwide notoriety as "Jihadi John".

'He was very friendly'

Robb Leech, who got to know Dhar while making a documentary about his own stepbrother who was jailed for terrorism offences in 2013, said the militant in the video looked and sounded like Dhar. He said Dhar had never struck him as violent, and had always been friendly.

British newspapers said he used to sell children's inflatable bouncers, known as bouncy castles in Britain, and was a fan of Arsenal soccer club and the rock group Nirvana.

"The last time I saw him it was about two months before he left and joined so-called Islamic State and we were laughing. It was very good natured," Leech told BBC radio.

"To remember him like that and then see him supposedly in this video, I don't understand that," he said, adding that Dhar must have had some very significant experiences in Syria with Islamic State to make him capable of doing what he did.

"Because the guy who I knew was no more capable of it than you or I as far as I could tell."

In one video on his YouTube site, Dhar distances himself to some extent from the killing of US and British citizens who were apparently beheaded by Jihadi John.

"I don't want to see another James Foley or Steven Sotloff or David Haines but unfortunately the way the West and the Europeans are going about things in terms of their policies with air strikes and intervening in the caliphate, sadly I can't see an end to this," Dhar said.

One of Dhar's former business associates told the BBC he had "no doubt" the voice on the video was that of Dhar, who had been arrested on suspicion of encouraging terrorism by the British police but was later able to travel to Syria after being bailed.

His former neighbours from Walthamstow in east London claimed Dhar's wife was more devout than him and suggest she may have put him on the path to extremism.

In the months leading up to his arrest Dhar was accused of calling for the imposition of Sharia law in Britain.

In one interview around that time he said: "We believe that whenever the Sharia is established, the pure Islamic state maybe in Iraq or Syria, one day the leader will wage jihad and annexe Britain into the Islamic state. We are not going to forget Europe, we are not going to forget Britain: armies will be sent here to conquer these lands".

In the latest IS video, he is now believed to be the masked man speaking in a British accent and holding a gun.

He says: "We will continue to wage jihad, break borders and one day invade your land where we will rule by the Sharia".

In the 10-minute video released on Sunday, the masked man speaking with a clear British accent threatens British Prime Minister David Cameron before shooting one of the alleged spies in the head.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday the video was "desperate stuff" from a group that was "losing territory".

The video also features a little boy speaking in a British accent.

'Channel 4 News' has reported that a south London man named Sunday Dare recognised the boy in the video as his grandson, Isa Dare, who was taken to Syria by his daughter Grace Dare aka Khadija.

In the video, five men, wearing jumpsuits and kneeling in a desert location, appear to be shot in the back of the head, after making what is claimed to be their confessions. — Agencies