Do you know this man? FBI seeks public's help in tracking down American ISIS terrorist
By RYAN GORMAN
Federal officials are seeking the public's help in identifying an English-speaking individual shown wearing a mask in a recent ISIS propaganda video.
The FBI wants to know who has already traveled, or is planning to travel, to the Middle East to take up arms with terror groups. The main target is believed to be an American citizen.
"We need the public's assistance in identifying U.S. persons going to fight overseas with terrorist groups or who are returning home from fighting overseas," said Michael Steinbach, assistant director of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division.
The agency's goal is to track down English-speaking people, possibly Americans, shown in videos produced by the terror group.
Agents have specifically aimed their efforts at a masked man clad in army fatigues speaking both Arabic and English while standing in front an Islamic State flag. He speaks with an American accent.
The September 19 video shows multiple prisoners and includes a message aimed at mainly at an American audience. It hints at a mass execution of Syrian soldiers, but no murders are shown.
"We're hoping that someone might recognize this individual and provide us with key pieces of information," Steinbach said. "No piece of information is too small."
The FBI's Minneapolis office, in response to recently discovered terror sympathizers in the metro area, recently began reaching out to the community in an effort to raise awareness of possible homegrown terrorists.
Part of the effort focused on how disaffected young males were targeted by terror recruiters in a manner similar to how street gangs indoctrinate members.
"These homegrown violent extremists are troubled souls who are seeking meaning in some misguided way," Director Comey said during a previously televised interview.
"They come across the propaganda and they become radicalized on their own independent study, and they're also able to equip themselves with training again on the Internet, and then engage in jihad after emerging from their basement."
Recent reports have suggested U.S. officials are increasingly concerned about homegrown terror cells.
Plots have yet to be uncovered, but officials are scrambling to identify individuals known to be traveling to terror training camps in Syria and Iraq before returning home undetected.
A form for submitting tips can be found here.
Related links:
Teen who wanted to join ISIS arrested at Chicago airport
New ISIS propaganda video blasts Obama's 'simplistic' speeches and 'under-construction army'
