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<p>The FBI is asking for the public’s help identifying individuals who have traveled—or are planning to travel—overseas to engage in combat alongside terrorist organizations.</p>
<p><span class="blackgraphtx">The FBI is also seeking information about the identity of an English-speaking individual and others seen in a propaganda video released last month by the group calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.</span></p>
<p><span class="blackgraphtx">A form for submitting potential tips and leads has been established at <a class="external-link" title="" href="http://www.fbi.gov/ISILtips" target="_self"><strong>www.fbi.gov/ISILtips</strong></a>.</span></p>
<p class="graphicboxheader">Seeking Information<span class="blackgraphtx"><br />
Help Identify Individuals Traveling Overseas for Combat</span></p>
<p><span class="blackgraphtx">10/07/14</span></p>
<p><span class="blackgraphtx">The FBI is asking for the public’s help identifying individuals who have traveled—or are planning to travel—overseas to engage in combat alongside terrorist organizations.</span></p>
<p><span class="blackgraphtx">“We need the public&#8217;s assistance in identifying U.S. persons going to fight overseas with terrorist groups or who are returning home from fighting overseas,” said Michael Steinbach, assistant director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division.</span></p>
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<th><span class="imgthinborder"><a class="external-link" title="" href="https://tips.fbi.gov/digitalmedia/ISILtips" target="_self"><img class="image-inline" title="Tips form: www.fbi.gov/ISILtips" src="http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/october/help-identify-individuals-traveling-overseas-for-combat/image/tips-form-www.fbi.gov-isiltips" alt="Tips form: www.fbi.gov/ISILtips" /></a></span></th>
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<td><strong><span class="blackgraphtx10">Submit tips to <a class="external-link" title="" href="https://tips.fbi.gov/digitalmedia/ISILtips" target="_self">www.fbi.gov/ISILtips</a></span></strong></td>
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<p><strong><span class="blackgraphtx">A form for submitting potential tips and leads has been established at <a class="external-link" title="" href="https://tips.fbi.gov/digitalmedia/ISILtips" target="_self">www.fbi.gov/ISILtips</a>.</span></strong></p>
<p><span class="blackgraphtx">The FBI is also seeking information about the identity of an English-speaking individual and others seen in a propaganda video released last month by the group calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.</span></p>
<p><span class="blackgraphtx">In the video, a man whose face is obscured by a mask alternates seamlessly between English and Arabic in pro-ISIL pronouncements intended to appeal to a Western audience. Dressed in desert camouflage and wearing a shoulder holster, the masked man can be seen standing in front of purported prisoners as they dig their own graves and then later presiding over their executions.</span></p>
<p><span class="blackgraphtx">The 55-minute video was released on September 19. In releasing a segment from the video, the FBI hopes someone might recognize the man through his voice and appearance. In the segment, the faces of purported prisoners are obscured and their executions are not shown.</span></p>
<p><span class="blackgraphtx">“We’re hoping that someone might recognize this individual and provide us with key pieces of information,” Steinbach said. “No piece of information is too small.”</span></p>
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<th><span class="imgthinborder"><a class="internal-link" title="" href="http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/october/help-identify-individuals-traveling-overseas-for-combat/image/isil-unknown-subject-close-up" target="_self"><img class="image-inline" title="ISIL Unknown Subject Close Up " src="http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/october/help-identify-individuals-traveling-overseas-for-combat/image/isil-unknown-subject-close-up" alt="ISIL Unknown Subject Close Up " width="120" height="170" /></a></span></th>
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<th><span class="imgthinborder"><a class="internal-link" title="" href="http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/october/help-identify-individuals-traveling-overseas-for-combat/image/isil-unknown-subject" target="_self"><img class="image-inline" title="ISIL Unknown Subject " src="http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/october/help-identify-individuals-traveling-overseas-for-combat/image/isil-unknown-subject" alt="ISIL Unknown Subject " width="206" height="170" /></a></span></th>
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<th><span class="imgthinborder"><a class="internal-link" title="" href="http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/october/help-identify-individuals-traveling-overseas-for-combat/image/isil-unknown-subject-profile" target="_self"><img class="image-inline" title="ISIL Unknown Subject Profile" src="http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/october/help-identify-individuals-traveling-overseas-for-combat/image/isil-unknown-subject-profile" alt="ISIL Unknown Subject Profile" width="164" height="170" /></a></span></th>
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<p><span class="blackgraphtx"><br />
The subject in the video has what is believed to be a North American accent. FBI Director James Comey has said about a dozen Americans are known to be fighting in Syria with ISIL.</span></p>
<p><span class="blackgraphtx">The threat of U.S. citizens traveling overseas to fight alongside terrorist groups is not new. Two years ago, a <a class="internal-link" title="" href="http://www.fbi.gov/chicago/press-releases/2012/chicago-man-pleads-guilty-to-planning-travel-to-somalia-to-join-al-shabaab-terrorist-organization-in-jihad-combat" target="_self">Chicago man was imprisoned</a> for planning to travel to Somalia in 2010 to join al Shabaab. Last year, an <a class="internal-link" title="" href="http://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2013/brooklyn-resident-from-albania-sentenced-to-15-years-imprisonment-for-attempting-to-support-terrorism" target="_self">Albanian man living in Brooklyn was sentenced</a> to 15 years for attempting to travel to Pakistan to engage in violent jihad. Last month, <a class="internal-link" title="" href="http://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2014/long-island-man-pleads-guilty-to-attempting-to-join-al-qaeda-in-the-arabian-peninsula-and-obstruction-of-justice" target="_self">a New York man pled guilty to attempting to travel to Yemen</a> in 2012 to support al Qaeda. On Saturday, <a class="internal-link" title="" href="http://www.fbi.gov/chicago/press-releases/2014/fbi-arrests-suburban-chicago-man-for-allegedly-attempting-to-support-terrorism-overseas" target="_self">a 19-year-old Chicago man was arrested</a> for allegedly attempting to travel overseas to join ISIL.<br />
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<th><a class="internal-link" title="" href="http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/seeking-info/unknown-individual" target="_self"><span class="imgthinborder"><img class="image-inline" title=" Seeking Information: Unknown Subject" src="http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/october/help-identify-individuals-traveling-overseas-for-combat/image/seeking-information-unknown-subject" alt=" Seeking Information: Unknown Subject" /></span></a></th>
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<td><strong><span class="blackgraphtx10"><a class="internal-link" title="" href="http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/seeking-info/unknown-individual" target="_self">View Poster</a></span></strong></td>
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<p><span class="blackgraphtx">Earlier this year, the FBI’s Minneapolis Division launched a campaign to raise awareness in communities and law enforcement circles about the foreign traveler threat. Minneapolis created a unique tip line and distributed business cards to community leaders asking for information about anyone who might be planning travel—or had already traveled—to a foreign country for armed combat.</span></p>
<p><span class="blackgraphtx">The outreach campaign also highlighted similarities in foreign traveler recruitment efforts to those employed by gangs, which adulterate themes like fraternity and a greater purpose to sell themselves to disaffected individuals.</span></p>
<p><span class="blackgraphtx">“These homegrown violent extremists are troubled souls who are seeking meaning in some misguided way,” Director Comey said during an interview aired Sunday on the <em>60 Minutes</em> news program. “And so they come across the propaganda and they become radicalized on their own independent study, and they&#8217;re also able to equip themselves with training again on the Internet, and then engage in jihad after emerging from their basement.”</span></p>
<p><span class="blackgraphtx">ISIL has released several videos in recent months showing the beheadings of American, French, and English journalists and aid workers. The speaker—and executioner—in those videos has a British accent and authorities have said they now know his identity. The propaganda video highlighted today features a fluent English speaker and appears to be a highly stylized recruitment tool designed to lure Westerners to ISIL’s cause.</span></p>
<p><strong><span class="blackgraphtx">The FBI needs your help identifying the individuals in this video as well as anyone traveling abroad to join terrorist organizations. Please send tips to <a class="external-link" title="" href="https://tips.fbi.gov/digitalmedia/ISILtips" target="_self">www.fbi.gov/ISILtips</a> or call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) with information.</span></strong></p>