MOSCOW, November 30 (Sputnik) – A terrorist network has been uncovered in the United Kingdom, which has been helping the Islamic State (IS) extremist group, particularly supporting the IS executioner who allegedly killed American journalist James Foley, the Sunday Mirror reports.
"The emphasis has been to track down the support network around the British IS executioner because we know they are still communicating with him," a US intelligence source told the Sunday Mirror Saturday.
"There has been success in this approach and our monitoring techniques have exposed British members of a tight network that is actively sending funds and resources to IS fighters in Iraq and Syria," the source added.
Foley was captured in 2012 in Syria. On August 19, 2014 the IS released a video showing a masked man beheading the US journalist. The executioner is reportedly believed to be a British man known as Jihadi John among IS extremists.
In the video he said Foley was killed because US President Barack Obama had ordered airstrikes against IS positions in Iraq.
IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), was fighting against Syrian President Bashar Assad before it started launching attacks in northern and western Iraq in June.
In August, the United States started launching airstrikes against IS positions in Iraq. In September, attacks by the United States and its allies were extended to Syria.
IS has released several on-line videos, promoting radical Islam and capturing the executions of several hostages, including American-Israeli journalist Steven Sotloff, and two British aid workers — David Haines and Alan Henning.