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How London rapper became 'Jihadi John'

According to media reports, the British radical who killed American journalist James Foley has been identified. The killer, who spoke in a British accent, claimed that it was in retaliation for American airstrikes on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Though a name has not yet been formally released, several investigators have said that they are eyeing a British-born rapper as their prime suspect, and add that sophisticated voice-recognition technology is being used to identify him.

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How London rapper became 'Jihadi John'

The suspect, Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, a rapper left his left his $1 million west London home to fight with the ISIS, is said to have become radicalised after spending time with Islamic radical and hate preacher Anjem Choudhary. His friends say that he grew increasingly violent after these meets. His music has been played on BBC Radio 1,but since then, he has tried to erase all traces of that life.

His father, Adel Abdul Bary, an Egyptian-born refugee, is awaiting trial in America for his alleged involvement in the US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

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How London rapper became 'Jihadi John'

Bary had previously posted a picture of himself holding the severed head of an unidentified man on his Twitter account which was later deactivated. ‘Chillin with my homie or what’s left of him’, was the caption. He had also changed his Twitter handle to ‘Soldier of Allah’, and posted pictures of himself posing with guns and openly supported Al Qaeda.

Sometime last year, Bary announced that he was turning his back on his music as ‘I have left everything for the sake of Allah’.

A French journalist, who had been a prisoner for months with Foley, has also claimed he has a “rough” idea as to the identity of the suspected killer.