ISIL RECORDS REPORTEDLY LEAKED
Foreign fighters’ names, other personal data A CANADIAN JIHADIST
BERLIN • Germany’s federal criminal police said Thursday they are in possession of files containing personal data on members of the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and believe them to be authentic.
The Interior Ministry confirmed that officials believed the list was authentic but declined to give any details about where it came from or the identities of the people on it. It was also not immediately clear whether the German authorities were sharing the list with the intelligence agencies of their allies, including the United States and Britain.
The announcement came after Britain’s Sky News reported it had obtained 22,000 ISIL files on the border with Turkey and Syria, files that detail ISIL fighters’ real names, where they were from, telephone numbers, and even names of those who sponsored and recruited the militants.
Though the significance of these files is yet to be gauged, they could be the largest yet treasure trove of documents found on ISIL and the most significant leak on its past and present fighters and operations across the Mideast.
They could also shape the campaign against the extremist group, which emerged from al- Qaida in Iraq. The cache, exposing its members and their families, could undermine its future ability to recruit and inspire wouldbe members.
U. S. army Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the U. S.led coalition against the Islamic State, said the information could help the coalition fight the Islamic State group by aiding in a crackdown on ISIL’s foreign fighter networks.
“This would allow the law enforcement apparatus across the world to become much more engaged and begin to help do what we can to stem this flow of foreign fighters — so we’re hopeful that it’s accurate and if so we certainly plan to do everything we can to help,” he said.
Sky said the files were passed on to it on a memory stick stolen from the head of ISIL’s internal security police by a former fighter who had grown disillusioned.
Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported it had also obtained “dozens” of similar files on the Turkey-Syria border, where it said ISIL files and videos were widely available from anti-ISIL Kurdish fighters and also members of ISIL itself.
Both Sky and the Sueddeutsche reported that the documents were forms with 23 questions filled out by recruits when they were inducted into ISIL. Sky said they included nationals from at least 51 countries.
Markus Koths, a spokesman for Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office, the Bundeskriminalamt, said it had ISIL personnel file documents such as those obtained by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. He would not comment on specifics about either the Sky or Sueddeutsche reports amid an ongoing investigation, and also would not say how German intelligence obtained the documents or how long they have been in its possession, “for tactical reasons.”
He did say, however, “we believe there is a high probability that these documents are genuine.”
“These documents are of significance for us for prosecutorial reasons and for threat prevention,” he said.
Similar documents, which have not yet been independently verified, were posted by Zaman al-Wasl, a pro-Syrian opposition website.
‘BEGIN TO HELP DO WHAT WE CAN TO STEM THIS FLOW OF FOREIGN FIGHTERS.’ — U. S. ARMY COL. STEVE WARREN