The simple act of setting up a LinkedIn business networking account has thrown down a trail for security services pursuing a British terrorist who helped recruit the Islamic State executioner ‘Jihadi John’.
Rabah Tahari, from Birmingham, is the leader of a jihadist group linked to al-Qaeda. The Home Office claims he founded a terrorist militia in Syria four years ago which recruited many British fighters, according to the Sunday Telegraph.
Now British and Turkish security services believe he has left the battlefield and moved to Turkey where he gave away his location when he joined the LinkedIn professional networking site.
According to Tahari’s LinkedIn page, which says he is in Turkey, the former British Guantanamo detainee Moazzam Begg is one of only two contacts.
Begg, also from Birmingham, was cleared two years ago of terrorism charges that included supporting Tahari in Syria. One of Begg’s co-accused was Tahari’s wife. She too had the charge against her dropped.
There are growing fears that Tahari, 46, who is the leader of a network of fighters, will make his way back to Europe to carry out terrorist attacks or begin recruiting more fighters for Islamic State.
As Breitbart London reported, the self-titled Islamic State terrorist ‘Jihadi John’ was drawn to Islamic State by Tahari and acted as a public executioner before he was reportedly ‘vapourised’ in a coalition airstrike.
Tahari has taken part in key operations in Syria where he and his fighters were trained to use a range of weaponry, according to the newspaper. He is a charismatic figure among his followers and used YouTube to post propaganda films in which he softly narrated the footage of Kateeba fighters in battle against President Assad’s forces.
It is estimated that up to 50 British jihadis are hiding out in Turkey, where they can plan terror attacks against the West safe from allied bombing.