The British security services MI5 and MI6 have identified the British member of the Islamic State jihadist organization who is suspected of murdering American journalist James Foley, according to the London-based Sunday Times newspaper.

Social Banners - Twitter





The newspaper attributed the information to "senior government sources."

The Sunday Times did not name the killer, saying that its sources "gave no details of the man they have identified," though it did give the name of a person it described as a "key suspect" – hip-hop artist Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary.

According to the newspaper, Bary, 23, left his family's home in an upmarket London suburb last year. It says he recently tweeted a picture of himself holding up a severed head.

The gruesome video of Foley's beheading, which was released last week, featured a man with a London accent. The newspaper said that Bary is known to fellow fighters as Jihadi John.

The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, has conquered considerable swathes of land in Iraq and Syria in recent months.