Sky News Obtains Names of 22,000 ISIL Terrorists

LONDON – British broadcaster Sky News says it has obtained tens of thousands of documents containing the names, addresses, phone numbers and family contacts of terrorists who joined the so-called “Islamic State” (Daesh or ISIL,) terrorist group.

Sky said Wednesday that a “disillusioned” former member had handed over the documents on a memory stick stolen from the head of the group’s internal security police.

The documents are forms that ISIL recruits fill out in order to be accepted into the organization. The data contains information on nationals from 51 countries, the broadcaster reported.

“Sky News has informed the authorities about the haul,” the news channel wrote on its website.

No comment was immediately available from Britain’s interior or foreign ministries.

Some of the documents reportedly contain the information of previously unknown terrorists in northern Europe, the United States and Canada, as well as North Africa and the Middle East, it said.

“This could be a massive development,” Chris Phillips, said managing director of counter terrorism consultancy International Protect and Prepare Security Office.

“It shows how ISIL is vulnerable to its own people turning against them. . . . The potential for security services identifying unknown terrorists is greatly enhanced,” he said.

He added that the leak could inspire others to turn against the group and that the documents could be used in future prosecutions and could help stop a flow of volunteers traveling to join ISIL from Europe and the U.S.

Copies of the documents broadcast by Sky News showed that recruits would have to answer 23 questions including on their blood type, mother’s maiden name, “level of Shariah understanding” and previous experience.

Some of the names in the documents are of terrorists who have been already identified, such as Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, a former rapper from west London who once posted an image of himself on Twitter holding a severed head.

Another named is Junaid Hussain, a cyber-operative for ISIL from the British city of Birmingham, and 21-year-old Reyaad Khan who appeared in a recruitment video, both killed last year.

Olivier Guitta, managing director of international security and risk firm GlobalStrat, said the leak is a boost to security services and indicates unhappiness within the group.

“This leak shows that there are dissenting voices within the ranks of ISIL,” he said.

H.M