Germany says stolen Islamic State files 'probably genuine'

Germany's interior minister has said stolen files detailing thousands of recruits to the Islamic State group can be assumed to be genuine.

Thomas de Maiziere said the information could help with prosecutions of IS fighters, and help prevent future recruitment to the militant group.
The files obtained by German and UK media are said to identify IS recruits from 50 countries.
They contain names, addresses, phone numbers and skill sets.

 

Counter-terrorism police in Germany are studying the documents.

"The German Federal Bureau of Investigation acts on the assumption that the documents are authentic," Mr de Maiziere said.
"We can also improve our understanding of the structures of this terror organisation," he added. "And possibly, it will discourage young, radicalised people, who believe they are doing something good if they become a member of a criminal organisation."
His counterpart in the UK, Home Secretary Theresa May, said she could not comment on "specific national security matters".
IS "poses a severe threat... it is important for us to work together to counter this threat", she added.

'Desperate financial state'

Sky News said the files contained 22,000 names, addresses, telephone numbers and family contacts of jihadists.
It said the documents had come from a man called Abu Hamed, an IS fighter who became disillusioned with the group's leadership, who said he had stolen a memory stick from the head of the IS internal security force and handed it over in Turkey.

---

Snapshot of jihad:                            

What appears to be a personnel database for the group could be of real intelligence value for Western security services - if it proves authentic.
The data looks to be a snapshot from late 2013 or early 2014 so will not be current but still could have its uses. It would help the authorities check that they had not missed anyone who had travelled out.
The section saying who had recommended an applicant and how they had travelled out could also be useful in tracing networks and connections.
British authorities will not comment on whether they have the database but the Germans (who also seem to have received it from a media organisation in their country) are also suggesting it could be useful as evidence in prosecuting those who return.

---

The foreign editor of Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Stefan Kornelius, told the BBC the paper had obtained the documents from the Turkish-Syrian border, where it was also offered videos and IS "artefacts".
"It gives some proof on the state of ISIS [IS] right now, since many of those members and those being close to the terrorist group are trying to make money, quite honestly, because obviously the ISIS is in a desperate financial state," he said.
German media have pulled out a number of names, including Kerim Marc B and Abdelkarim B, who they say are currently on trial separately in Germany.
Some of the papers are stamped Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, which pre-dates the rebranding to Islamic State in June 2014.
Analysts say IS is known to be bureaucratic, so such lists may not be surprising.
Zaman Al-Wasl, a Syrian independent news website, said in January it had also obtained documents  that "included 23 fields" and listed the "real names of IS fighters and their jihadi backgrounds, nationalities and hometown addresses".
One document found from the site relates to a Briton called Abu Jibril al-Britani. The questionnaire says he was born of Bangladeshi origins in 1995, entered Syria on 31 August 2013 and was offering four areas of work - "fighter, sharia related, security work and admin".

Islamic State documents

1,700

files obtained by Syrian opposition website Zaman al Wasl. If authentic, they suggest:

• 40 countries from where IS recruited jihadists, including Russia and Iran
• 72% of the fighters are Arab
• Main nationalities: Saudi Arabian, Tunisian, Moroccan, Egyptian
• 25% are Saudi Arabians

Source: Zaman Al Wasl

AFP

Shashank Joshi, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think-tank, told the Press Association the papers could be "incredibly important".
He said: "It is a law enforcement gold mine. It means it might make it easier to prosecute those who have returned."
IS, a fundamentalist Sunni Muslim group also known as Daesh, is notorious for its brutal methods in gaining territory in Iraq and Syria.

---

Are the documents genuine?

Some analysts have raised questions about the authenticity of the documents, noting inconsistencies in language and other oddities in the recruitment questionnaires such as:

• The old name for IS - Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) - is rendered in two slightly different ways on the documents
• An unusual logo is used at the bottom saying "Islamic State is here to stay"
• The questionnaire has a section for recording when and where a fighter was "killed" rather than "martyred" - jihadists' preferred terminology

But none of that is conclusive. The documents were clearly not intended for public consumption, so those who drafted the questionnaire may not have paid as much attention to detail as for public documents.
And they should be compared not with IS documents of today, but of around two years ago, when they appear to originate - before the group's rapid land grab across northern Iraq and Syria, when its bureaucracy and administrative capabilities were less well developed.
credit bbc.co.uk