Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/470332
ByJillLawless The Associated Press LONDON Theworldknows him as "Jihadi John," the masked, knife-wielding militant in videos showing Western hostages being be- headed by the Islamic State group. A growing body of evidence suggests he is a London-raised university graduate, described by one man who knew him as kind, gentle and humble. The Washington Post and the BBC on Thursday identified the British-ac- cented militant from the chilling videos as Moham- med Emwazi, a man in his mid-20s who was born in Kuwait and raised in a mod- est, mixed-income area of west London. No one answered the door at the brick row house where the Emwazi fam- ily is alleged to have lived. Neighbors in the surround- ing area of public housing projects either declined comment or said they didn't know the family. One man who knew Emwazi portrayed him as compassionate, a descrip- tion completely at odds with the cruelty attributed to him. "The Mohammed that I knew was extremely kind, extremely gentle, extremely soft-spoken, was the most humble young person that I knew," said Asim Qureshi of CAGE, a London-based ad- vocacy group which works with Muslims in conflict with British intelligence services Qureshi said he met Em- wazi in 2009, but hadn't had contact with him since January 2012. Qureshi said he saw strong similarities between the man in a beheading video and Emwazi. But he said "I can't be 100 percent certain." "The guy's got a hood on his head. It's very, very dif- ficult," Qureshi said. British anti-terror offi- cials wouldn't confirm the man's identity, citing a "live counterterrorism inves- tigation." National Secu- rity Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said the U.S. couldn't confirm or deny the identity, either. Asked whether it was helpful or hurtful to have the jihadi publicly identi- fied, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that investigators over the last several months "have found it to their ad- vantage to not talk publicly about the details or prog- ress of that investigation." He didn't confirm the iden- tity of the suspect. The Center for the Study of Radicalization and Polit- ical Violence at King's Col- lege London, which closely tracks fighters in Syria, said it believed the identification was correct. "Jihadi John" appeared in a video released in Au- gust showing the slaying of American journalist James Foley, denouncing the West before the killing. Former IS captives identified him as one of a group of Brit- ish militants that prison- ers had nicknamed "The Beatles." A man with similar stat- ure and voice also featured in videos of the killings of American journalist Ste- ven Sotloff, Britons David Haines and Alan Hemming and U.S. aid worker Abdul- Rahman Kassig. According to The Wash- ington Post and the BBC, Emwazi was born in Ku- wait, grew up in west Lon- don and studied computer programming at the Uni- versity of Westminster. The university confirmed that a student of that name grad- uated in 2009. "If these allegations are true, we are shocked and sickened by the news," the university said in a state- ment. The news outlets said Emwazi was known to Brit- ain's intelligence services before he traveled to Syria in 2012, and Qureshi said he had accused British spies of harassing him. Qureshi said Emwazi first contacted CAGE in 2009. Emwazi said he had traveled to Tanzania with two other men after leav- ing university, but was de- ported and questioned in Amsterdam by British and Dutch intelligence services, who suspected him of at- tempting to join al-Shabaab militants in Somalia. The following year, Em- wazi accused British intelli- gence services of preventing him from traveling to Ku- wait, where he planned to work and marry. CAGE quoted an email Emwazi had sent saying, "I had a job waiting for me and marriage to get started. But now I feel like a pris- oner, only not in a cage, in London." Qureshi accused Brit- ish authorities of alienat- ing and radicalizing young British Muslims with heavy- handed policies. "When we treat people as if they are outsiders, they will inevitably feel like out- siders, and they will look for belonging elsewhere," he said. TERRORISM Masked 'Jihadi John' raised in UK, studied computers, reports say MATTDUNHAM—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS CAGE research director, Asim Qureshi, le , and spokesman Cerie Bullivant, right, take their seats next to political activist John Rees at the start of a press conference held by the CAGE human rights charity in London on Thursday. By Zeina Karam The Associated Press BEIRUT The number of Christians abducted by the Islamic State group in northeastern Syria has risen to 220 in the past three days, as militants round up more hostages from a chain of villages along a strategic river, ac- tivists said Thursday. In Iraq, the IS extrem- ists released a video pur- portedly showing militants using sledgehammers to smash ancient artifacts in Iraq's northern city of Mo- sul, describing the relics as idols that must be removed. This week's abductions of the Christian Assyrians in northeastern Syria is one of the largest hostage-takings by the Islamic State since their blitz last year that cap- tured large swaths of both Syria and Iraq last year. The fate of the captives was not known. The Britain-based Syr- ian Observatory for Hu- man Rights said the mil- itants picked up dozens more Christian Assyrians from 11 communities near the town of Tal Tamr in Hassakeh province. The province, which bor- ders Turkey and Iraq, has become the latest battle- ground in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria. It is predominantly Kurdish but also has pop- ulations of Arabs and pre- dominantly Christian As- syrians and Armenians. IS began abducting the Assyrians on Monday, when militants attacked a cluster of villages along the Khabur River, sending thousands of people fleeing to safer ar- eas. Younan Talia, a senior official with the Assyrian Democratic Organization, said IS had raided 33 Assyr- ian villages, picking up as many as 300 people along the way. It was not possible to reconcile the numbers, and the fate of the hostages remained unclear. State-run news agency SANA and an Assyrian ac- tivist group, the Assyrian Network for Human Rights in Syria, said the group had been moved to the IS-con- trolled city of Shaddadeh, a predominantly Arab town south of the city of Has- sakeh. The Observatory, however, said they were still being held in nearby Mt. Abdulaziz. The mass abduction added to fears among re- ligious minorities in both Syria and Iraq, who have been repeatedly targeted by the Islamic State group. The extremists have declared a self-styled caliphate in the regions of both countries that are under their con- trol, killing members of re- ligious minorities, driving others from their homes, enslaving women and de- stroying houses of worship. The group has killed cap- tives in the past, including foreign journalists, Syrian soldiers and Kurdish mili- tiamen. Most recently, mil- itants in Libya affiliated with IS released a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians. The extremists could also use the Assyrian captives to try to arrange a prisoner swap with the Kurdish mi- litias they are battling in northeastern Syria. The Observatory said ne- gotiations through media- tors were taking place be- tween Arab tribes and an Assyrian figure to secure the hostages' release. The U.N. Security Coun- cil on Wednesday evening "strongly condemned" the abduction and demanded the immediate release of others abducted by the Is- lamic State and similar groups. The White House con- demned the attacks, saying the international commu- nity is united in its resolve to "end ISIL's depravity." ISIL is one of several alter- native acronyms for the IS group. The Assyrians are in- digenous Christian people who trace their roots back to some of the ancient Mes- opotamians — the ancient Assyrians whose artifacts the Islamic State is now de- stroying in Iraq. The five-minute Is- lamic State video released Thursday shows a group of bearded men inside the Mo- sul Museum using hammers and drills to destroy several large statues, which are then shown in pieces and chipped. The video then shows a black-clad man at a nearby archaeological site inside Mosul drilling through and destroying a winged-bull Assyrian pro- tective deity that dates back to the 7th century B.C. ISLAMIC STATE Number of Syrian Christians abducted by IS rises to 220 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Militants take a break during fighting in Tal Tamr, Hassakeh province, Syria, in this image posted on a militant social media account by the Al-Baraka division of the Islamic State group on Tuesday. EVGENIY MALOLETKA — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Ukrainian weapons are towed by vehicles as heavy weapons are withdrawn in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, on Thursday. By Peter Leonard and Vadim Ghirda The Associated Press KIEV, UKRAINE Warring parties in Ukraine took a major stride toward quell- ing unrest in the country's east Thursday with the de- clared start of a supervised withdrawal of heavy weap- ons from the front line. Ukrainian and separat- ist officials have noted a sharp decline in violence, although the chances of a long-lasting settlement re- main clouded by lingering suspicions. While announcing the pullback, Ukraine's De- fense Ministry warned that it would revise arms withdrawal plans in the event of any attacks. "Ukrainian troops are in a state of total readi- ness to defend the coun- try," it said in a statement. The pullback was sup- posed to have started over a week ago under a peace deal agreed upon earlier this month by the leaders of Russia and Ukraine to end the fighting in east- ern Ukraine that has killed nearly 5,800 people since April. The intensity of fighting has declined nota- bly in recent days, despite daily charges by both sides that the other is violating the Feb. 15 cease-fire. Rebels in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in- sist they have spent the last few days drawing back their heavy weapons — a claim not yet verified by independent observers. Donetsk separatist leader Alexander Zakharchenko mirrored Ukrainian will- ingness to immediately resort to combat if pro- voked. "Military equipment will be returned to their positions. Any attacks on our cities and villages will be nipped in the bud," he said. The press office for Ukrainian military oper- ations in the east said in a statement that govern- ment forces on Thursday started moving 100 mm anti-tank guns back the 16- mile minimum stipulated by the peace deal. Ukraine, rebels st art p ul li ng b ac k heavy weapons EASTERN EUROPE N EWS D AILY RED BLUFF TEHAMA COUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N TY S I N C E 1 8 8 5 FAX: (530) 528-0130 545 Diamond Avenue • P.O. Box 220 • Red Bluff, CA 96080 Support our classrooms, keep kids reading. DONATE YOUR VACATION newspaper dollars to the Newspaper In Education Program HELP OUR CHILDREN For more details call Circulation Department (530) 73 7-5047 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2015 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 5 B