ISIS study website: Pinoy part of beheading team

MANILA, Philippines - A Filipino may have been one of the executioners of Syrian Air Force pilots and an American whose respective beheadings were recorded on video.

Retired US military men supposedly maintaining the website “The ISIS Study Group” reported they have intelligence analysts ascertaining that the “Asian-looking” Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighter is “possibly Filipino Tausug.”

A video of the latest beheadings was uploaded online last Sunday.

“The recent IS execution video showing the beheadings of the Syrian pilots and Peter Kassig is extremely important due to the fact that a Filipino foreign fighter was involved in the execution of the pilots, and quite possibly was also involved in Kassig’s execution as well,” the website said.

“In the recent Islamic State video showing the beheadings of 18 Syrian Air Force pilots and American citizen Peter Kassig, we saw what appears to be a Filipino foreign fighter participating in the executions.”

The British news website Mail Online also reported similar information.

It cited unnamed Kurdish sources as saying that the killer from the latest ISIS video is a Filipino.

Armed Forces public affairs chief Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc said the military could not verify whether the “Asian-looking” executioner is indeed a Filipino.

“I cannot confirm this report because the video is not verified by our intelligence agencies,” he said.

“We cannot independently verify this because we cannot make a conclusion on his nationality based on his appearance.”

Cabunoc said Southeast Asians have a lot in common in terms of physical features.

“So far there are no verified reports about Filipinos joining ISIS,” he said.

The ISIS Study Group said Philippine terror groups are actively working to achieve their goal of securing overseas funding associated with IS, although they are not quite at the level of their counterparts in Indonesia and Malaysia.

“Furthermore, we assess that approximately 10-20 Filipinos have actually traveled to Syria or Iraq with the purpose of networking with ‘the right people’ connected to foreign financiers,” the website said.

In their quest to control Muslim regions, ISIS has killed non-Muslims who refuse to convert to Islam.

Last October, former President Fidel Ramos revealed that about 100 young Filipino Muslims had entered Iraq to train with the ISIS.

An online video showing members of the Abu Sayyaf and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters pledging allegiance to ISIS has surfaced.

It led to speculations that ISIS had entered the country.

However, security officials dismissed the video as a mere propaganda tool. The supposed alliance between ISIS and local terrorists remains unverified, they said.

On Sunday, social media accounts of ISIS affiliates released a video showing the brutal execution of Kassig and 18 Syrian pilots in Dabiq, northern Syria.

Kassig was a 26-year-old aid worker who was kidnapped while delivering relief goods in Syria last year.

ISIS said Kassig, a former US Army Ranger, was beheaded for fighting against Muslims in Iraq.

Kassig was the fifth Westerner to be executed after American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning.

The video also showed the beheading of Syrian pilots wearing blue jumpsuits.