ISIS defector leaks thousands of documents that identify fighters
An informant has handed a number of media organizations in Europe a list containing the identities of an estimated 22,000 Islamic State members.
The documents, which were first reported by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the country's public broadcasters NDR and WDR, Zaman Al Wasl, an independent news website focused on Syria, and Britain's Sky News, consist of a cache of questionnaires filled out by the fighters.
You May Also Like
It includes 23 questions detailing each fighter's first and last names, nom de guerre, address, telephone numbers, country of origin, blood type and family contacts.
They were originally compiled by the group's Borders Administration as hopeful militants crossed into ISIS-controlled territory.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
A Sky News reporter says he met with the informant at an undisclosed location in Turkey, where he was handed a USB memory stick stolen from the terrorist group's internal security police. Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent at the paper, identified the leaker as a "former Free Syrian Army convert to Islamic State who calls himself Abu Hamed."
The German media outlets said their leaker was anonymous. The documents have been turned over to authorities in both countries. Many have been published online.
Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière believes they will help the authorities investigate and ultimately prosecute the group's fighters.
“They offer a great chance to provide evidence and to prove that Germans took part in terrorist activities of the so-called Islamic State,” he told reporters on Tuesday, according to the New York Times.
"It is good, because we will be able to better prove these activities, speed and better clarify our investigations and come to stronger sentences," he added.
The former global terrorism operations director at Britain's spy agency MI6 told Sky News, "It's a fantastic coup."
"It will be an absolute goldmine of information of enormous significance and interest to very many people," said Richard Barrett, adding that the security and intelligence services would be particularly interested in them.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Brian Ries was Mashable’s Real-Time News Editor. In this position, Brian was the point person in developing real-time responses to breaking news and developing stories, using live-blogging tools on Mashable.com as well as Mashable’s prime social media accounts. As Real-Time News Editor he ensured that Mashable’s live news and news-based social content is immediate, urgent and engaging to its audience.
