Voice-print analysis to identify 'new Jihadi John' in IS video

Execution video from Islamic State terror group features man and small boy with British accents

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The security services are examining an execution video released by Islamic State (IS) at the weekend which purports to show five spies for the British being shot dead by a man who has been dubbed the 'new Jihadi John'.

Intelligence agencies will use voice-print analysis to try to identify the man, who seems to have a British accent but speaks with a scarf over his mouth. A boy of around five who appears at the end of the video also has a UK inflection.

The BBC says the voice-print from the video will be matched against recordings of individuals "known to have travelled to Iraq and Syria". It points out that the footage has not been independently verified.

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In the eleven-minute propaganda video, the speaker addresses David Cameron as an "imbecile … slave of the White House" and asserts that IS will "continue to wage jihad, break borders and one day invade your land".

He says that Cameron is the "insignificant leader" of a "small island" and, incongruously, refers to the Government's new national minimum wage.

The film shows five men of Middle-Eastern appearance who each make a 'confession' to having spied for the British. None of them seem to be British or have British accents.

They are later seen kneeling in the desert wearing orange jumpsuits. A masked man addresses the camera and the five men then appear to be murdered, shot in the back of their heads by the British-sounding man and four others.

At the end, the small boy appears. He wears military-style fatigues and a black bandana with IS insignia. He points into the distance and says: "We are going to kill the kafir [non-believers] over there."

The Daily Mail quotes Labour MP Sadiq Khan, who wrote on Twitter: "The evil and disgusting ISIS propaganda video shows why we need to do much more to tackle radicalisation in Britain."

The BBC's Gordon Corera says the masked man in the new video is trying to take up the "mantle" of 'Jihadi John', as the press dubbed the IS propagandist Mohammed Emwazi.

A Briton, Emwazi appeared in several execution videos before he was killed in a targeted drone strike carried out by the US in Syria. Corera says he was probably killed after informers located him.

The new video showing the killing of alleged spies who may well be entirely innocent shows "the extent to which IS is trying to track down those who might be providing information", says Corera.

Margaret Gilmore of security think tank the Royal United Services Institute told BBC Radio 5 Live that there was an "air of desperation" about the video which she said was released to attract attention away from the group's recent military set-backs.

Here is the full text of the video:

All praise be to Allah the greatest, the only one worthy of worship, obedience and submission. And may the peace and blessings be upon the prophet Muhammad, the final messenger sent to all of mankind.

This is a message to David Cameron. O, slave of the White House. O, mule of the Jews. How strange it is that we find ourselves today hearing an insignificant leader like you challenge the might of the Islamic State.

How strange it is that the leader of a small island threatens us with a handful of planes. One would have thought you would have learned the lessons of your pathetic master in Washington and his failed campaign against Islamic State.

It seems that you, just like your predecessors Blair and Brown, are just as arrogant and foolish. In fact David, you are more of an imbecile.

Only an imbecile would dare to wage war against a land where the law of Allah reigns supreme. nd where the people live under the justice and security of the Sharia.

Only an imbecile would dare to anger a people who love death the way that you love your life. O, British Government. O, people of Britain. Know that today your citizenship are under our feet.

And that the Islamic State, our country, is here to stay. And we will continue to wage jihad, break borders and one day invade your land where we will rule by the sharia.

But as for those of you who wish to continue fighting under the banner of Cameron on the minimum wage, we say to you, to ask yourself, do you really think your government will care about you when you come into our hands?

Or will they abandon you, as they have abandoned these spies, and those who came before them. Because you will lose this war, as you lost in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But this time when you lose, your children will pay for your deeds and remember you as the fools who thought they could fight the Islamic State.

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