The
treasure trove of data for security services battling the terror group
contains the names, nationalities, addresses, telephone numbers, family
contacts and the fighter's personal recruiter.
The
leak by a disgruntled jihadi contains the details of at least 16
British fighters, including Birmingham hacker Junaid Hussain and
Cardiff-born Reyaad Khan, who were both killed by a US drone last year.
Former
UK intelligence chiefs described the documents as a 'goldmine' and it
is believed to be the biggest ISIS intelligence haul ever uncovered.
Cache:
Briton Junaid Hussain, left, travelled to Syria from Birmingham in 2013,
and was married to 'Mrs Terror' Sally Jones, and his ISIS file, right,
is among 22,000 leaked today
The memory stick reveals recruits had
to fill in the 23-question registration card to be allowed into the
group, also known as Daesh, including details like next of kin, and
previous employment
Questionnaire: All ISIS fighters need
to fill in a survey on their most personal details - but today's leak
will leave the group in crisis
The
files also include British rapper Abdel Bary, a 26-year-old from London
who joined IS in 2013 after visiting Libya, Egypt and Turkey.
The
son of convicted terrorist Adel Abdul Bary, he was pictured in August
last year holding the severed head of a captured Syrian army soldier who
had been executed.
Security
sources had suspicions that he was ISIS' executioner-in-chief Jihadi
John before it was revealed to be Mohammed Emwaz, Bary's friend from
West London.
Experts
believe the files could be invaluable in tackling jihadists who have
sneaked back into Europe intent on bringing bloodshed to the streets in
'enormous and spectacular' attacks.
The
documents are from ISIS' entrance interviews, probably held in Raqqa,
Syria, and show that the terror group has its own human resources
department.
The
documents also show the name of the ISIS 'fixer' who 'recommended' the
individual on the form, giving spies a better idea of who runs the
group's recruitment network.
And
the forms also have the route they took to Syria or Iraq date, time and
place of death if applicable, meaning security services now know
exactly who has perished.
In
a major coup for the West, a memory stick stolen from an IS leader by a
disgruntled recruit was obtained by Sky News. The details it contains
are understood to be authentic.
Recruits
from at least 51 countries, including the UK, who travelled to the
region to join the murderous terror organisation – notorious for its
brutality, including beheadings, crucifixions and massacres – were
ordered to give up their most sensitive information.
Details were logged on an extraordinary induction form.
Only when a recruit had filled in the 23-question registration card were they allowed into the group, also known as Daesh.
Questions
on the form included date of birth, marital status, previous jobs, who
recommended them, if they had fought before, what role they would take –
for instance, 'fighter' – and any 'specialist skills'.
The forms even includes contact details for next of kin. Many of the names on the registration cards are well known.
Many of the names on the registration cards are well known - including a number of British fighters
Another jihadi named in the documents is Junaid Hussain, a computer hacker from Birmingham who was head of Islamic State's media wing. Along with his wife, former punk Sally-Anne Jones, he plotted attacks against the UK.
He
was killed after being targeted in a drone strike last August. His
jihadi widow, known as 'Mrs Terror', has been put on a government list
of the most dangerous British recruiters for Islamic State.
Some
700 British Muslims have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join IS and
around half have returned to the UK, according to British spies, and may
be plotting atrocities on the streets.
But
the major breakthrough from the documents is the revealing of the
identities of a number of previously unknown jihadis in the UK, northern
Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, the United States and Canada.
Their whereabouts are crucial to breaking the organization and preventing further terror attacks.
Richard
Barrett, a former MI6 global terrorism operations director, said the
files could prove to be the 'biggest breakthrough in years' in the
counter-terror fight.
He
said: 'It will be an absolute gold mine of information of enormous
significance and interest to very many people, particularly the security
and intelligence services.'
Some 700 British Muslims have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS and around half have returned to the UK, according to British spies
Nationals
from more than 51 countries including the UK filled in a 23-question
'registration' form as they were inducted into IS, according to Sky
News, which obtained the data.
Many
came from so-called terror 'hot spots' like Tunisia, Afghanistan,
Pakistan and Yemen - although it appears the highest numbers came from
Saudi Arabia.
ABDEL BARY: LONDON RAPPER TURNED VIOLENT JIHADI
Adel Abdul Bary was initially suspected by MI5 of being Jihadi John before being ruled out
The
former rapper and son of convicted terrorist Adel Abdul Bary was
initially suspected by MI5 of being Jihadi John before being ruled out.
In August last year, Bary was pictured holding the severed head of a captured Syrian army soldier who had been executed.
Underneath the image, posted on a social media account, Bary wrote: 'Chillin with my other homie, or what's left of him'.
The
26-year-old, from Maida Vale in West London, joined Islamic State in
2013 after visiting Libya, Egypt and Turkey. His whereabouts are
currently unknown.
It is understood that he fell out of favour with IS last year and left Syrian for Turkey.
Bary
is thought to have disguised himself as a refugee and escaped during
the chaos of an IS retreat from Tal Abyad near the Turkey Syria border
in June 2015.
His
father, who is believed to be closely linked to Osama Bin Laden,
admitted working for Al Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad after being
extradited to the US from Britain.
Last
February the 55-year-old was sentenced to 25 years in a US jail for
conspiring to kill Americans in the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa
which left 224 dead.
Shashank
Joshi, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute
(RUSI) security think-tank, described the leak as 'incredibly
important'.
He said: 'It is a law enforcement gold mine. It means it might make it easier to prosecute those who have returned.
'Beyond
that it is also an intelligence gold mine because it may include people
whose departure wasn't known and a lot of information about other
contacts because there is an entry about who recommended this
individual.'
He added: 'Rarely do intelligence organisations get complete caches of documents in this way.'
The
documents were reportedly stolen by a former member of the Syrian Free
Army who joined IS and then became disillusioned, saying it had been
taken over by soldiers from the Iraqi Baath party of Saddam Hussein.
Mr Joshi cautioned against drawing any broad conclusions about morale within the group.
He
said: 'It is tempting to want to believe that this is evidence that the
organisation is suffering a grievous lapse of morale. I'm not so
sure.'
The
whistlebolwer, an ISIS security official was asked if the files could
cause the collapse of the group he said: 'God willing'.
Experts
believe that IS is refocusing its base of operations abroad and is
intent on carrying out high-profile attacks in Western countries,
instead of radicalising vulnerable and mentally-ill people to carry out
'lone wolf' strikes against soldiers and police officers.
Yesterday
the British head of the EU's crime fighting organisation warned that
the chance of a Paris-style terror atrocity on the streets of Britain
was growing.
Rob
Wainwright, the director of Europol, said the continent was facing its
biggest security crisis in ten years – and has previously warned almost
5,000 Islamist jihadi fanatics could be at large in the European Union.
Radicalised Europeans who have gained conflict experience in Syria are now returning to the continent, he said.
He said: 'We are working of course around the clock to prevent that from happening but this is a very, very serious threat.'
Meanwhile,
a chemical weapons expert from IS's operations in Iraq has been
captured by US special forces and is being questioned.
The
man was once a specialist in chemical and biological weapons for Saddam
Hussein, the Iraqi leader overthrown by the US invasion in 2003, Iraqi
and US sources told US media.
Named as Sleiman Daoud al-Afari, he was reportedly seized last month. The Pentagon would not confirm his capture.
But the man has already told interrogators how IS loaded mustard gas into shells, according to the New York Times.
Last month it was claimed that sulphur mustard had been used last year in an IS attack on Kurdish forces.
JUNAID HUSSAIN: THE COMPUTER HACKER MARRIED TO 'MRS TERROR'
Junaid Hussein was married to Kent convert Sally Jones, known as 'Mrs Terror', pictured
The
computer hacker named as an ISIS fighter in leaked files today, fled
his home in Birmingham to Syria in 2013 and quickly rose to prominence
within Islamic State.
He ran the information and recruitment arm of the terror group and was ranked third on the Pentagon's 'kill list'.
Last
year Hussain helped plan an attack on the VJ Day celebrations in London
using a pressure cooker bomb. The plot failed after Hussain unwittingly
recruited an undercover journalist.
Describing
the plan, he wrote: 'It will be big. We will hit the kuffar
(unbelievers) hard. Hit their soldiers in their own land. Soldiers that
served in Iraq and Afghanistan will be present. Jump in the crowd and
detonate the bomb.
'They think they can kill Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan then come back to the UK and be safe. We'll hit them hard.'
Hussain
was on police bail on charges of violent disorder during an English Defense League rally, but fled just before his trial.
He
was jailed for six months in 2012 for hacking into the email account of
an assistant to former Prime Minister Tony Blair and leaking
confidential information about him on the web.
He was also convicted of bombarding the Metropolitan Police anti-terrorism hotline with bogus calls.
Hussain,
who helped bring down the Pentagon's official Twitter page, was killed
by a US drone strike on his car near Raqqa in August last year.
His
wife Sally Jones, a 45-year-old mother-of-two and former punk rocker
from Chatham, in Kent, is believed to still live in Syria.
The pair were dubbed 'Mr and Mrs Terror' after they fled to Syria.
REYAAD KHAN: THE EXTREMIST WHO DREAMED ON BEING PRIME MINISTER
The 21-year-old from Cardiff was killed in an RAF drone strike in July last year.
Wearing
a headscarf and armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, Khan appeared
in an IS video in June 2014 in which he called for Westerners to fight
in Iraq and Syria.
He
was targeted by the drone because he was said to be part of a jihadi
internet warfare cell and presented a 'clear and present danger'.
Khan,
who wanted to be the first Asian prime minister, is believed to have traveled to Syria in late 2013 from his home in Cardiff.
Reyaad Khan, 21, from Cardiff, was killed in an RAF drone strike last year
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