U.S. officials have identified the masked ISIS terrorist that beheaded two American journalists and a British aid worker, FBI director James Comey announced Thursday.
The FBI is not yet releasing the executioner’s name or nationality, Comey told reporters Thursday. Until now, he’s been known as simply ‘Jihadi John.’
The terrorist was first seen in a video beheading American journalist James Foley posted online August 19. U.S. officials identified him as the same masked man who beheaded Steven Sotloff, another American journalist, several days afterward.
He also murdered British aid worker David Haines several days later. British officials would not confirm Thursday whether U.S. officials had shared the terrorist’s identity with them.
The man spoke English with a British accent, leading many to speculate that he’s from the London area.
In late August, British Ambassador Peter Westmacott said the U.K. was close to identifying him, according to the Associated Press.
ISIS has encouraged other militant Islamic groups to capture and execute Western prisoners. On Wednesday, an Algerian terrorist organization called “Soldiers of the Caliphate” beheaded Herve Gourdell, a French mountaineer captured on Sunday. The group had called for France to pull its support from the U.S.-led coalition fighting against ISIS. (RELATED: ISIS-Inspired Group Beheads French Tourist)