LONDON
The British Daesh militant known as "Jihadi John," who has been pictured in videos showing the beheading of Western hostages, has been named as Mohammed Emwazi, according to the BBC, the British state broadcaster.
Daesh is the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.
Emwazi was known to the UK security services for some time but they chose not to reveal his name for operational reasons, the BBC said on Thursday.
He first appeared in the video of the beheading of U.S. journalist James Foley last August.
Emwazi was later featured in the beheading videos of U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff, British aid worker David Haines, British taxi driver Alan Henning, and American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig.
ISIL claims to have beheaded three U.S. hostages -- James Foley, Peter "Abdul-Rahman" Kassig and Steven Sotloff -- since August 2014, as well as British citizens David Haines and Alan Henning.
A U.S.-led International coalition has been striking ISIL targets since mid-September 2014, aiming to help the Iraqi government and Kurdish fighters in Syria fighting the extremist organization.
