A video released on Sunday by the terrorist group Islamic State claimed to show the nine Paris attackers in Iraq and Syria, some time before they killed 130 people in the French capital on 13 November.
British prime minister David Cameron and speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow are directly threatened in the video. Their images appear towards the end of the 17-minute footage, with crosshairs superimposed over their faces.
Isis also suggests a threat to attack the UK, as the video uses images of major London sites.
In the video, the nine assailants including Bilal Hadfi, Samy Amimour and suspected ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, are identified by their noms de guerre and shown carrying out beheadings and participating in target practice, scenes similar to those found in previous Isis propaganda footage. Some of the attackers’ last statements can be heard.
If the identities of the men in the video are confirmed as those who carried out the Paris attacks, it would indicate that the nine men were not only influenced by Isis – but rather were coordinated by the group from strongholds in Syria and Iraq.
The video seemingly aims to show that the attackers, some of whom had French and Belgian passports, had committed atrocities and trained in Isis-held territory.
The Guardian could not independently verify the footage, nor the timeline it purports to depict.
The video opens with edited news footage of the Paris attacks, with graphics depicting the targets of the coordinated assault. It incorporates bystander footage from outside the Bataclan theater, with several targets aligned with the figures of fleeing Parisians.
The video includes footage of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks who was killed on 18 November 2015 in a ferocious shootout with French police at an apartment in St Denis.
A voice recording purportedly by Abaaoud plays over footage of Parisians fleeing the attacks and speeches by French prime minister Manuel Valls and President François Hollande. It addresses the coalition forces carrying out air strikes in Iraq and Syria, and threatens further attacks in retaliation for the slaughter of Muslims on “Muslim land”.
Several of the men are shown speaking in French with what appear to be native French accents, though with inflections typical of north African immigrant communities.
Hadfi, the youngest Paris attacker, is seen beheading a man. Hadfi was one of three who attacked the Stade de France and was believed to have fought with Islamic State in Syria. Amimour, one of the Bataclan attackers, was known to French intelligence services.
Those killed in the video have yet to be identified but the activist group Raqqa Is Being Silently Slaughtered claimed to have identified one of the men seen beheaded as a civilian from Raqqa.
Islamic State, also known as Isis or Isil, began teasing the release last week in the latest issue of Dabiq, its monthly magazine, where a still image appeared. As with a spate of recent videos, Sunday’s video was released in several languages.
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Isis video threatening UK claims to show Paris attackers in Iraq and Syria
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