The English jihadist who beheaded the American journalist James Foley is believed to be the leader of a group of British fighters holding foreign hostages in Syria, sources have told the Guardian. As an international manhunt got under way on Wednesday, the English-speaking militant was identified to the Guardian by one of his former hostages as the ringleader of three British jihadists thought to
![British Isis militant in James Foley video 'guards foreign hostages in Syria'](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/7bdab7339d3ef608238d12091de59ebfee81884f/height=288;version=1;width=512/https%3A%2F%2Fi.guim.co.uk%2Fimg%2Fstatic%2Fsys-images%2FGuardian%2FPix%2Faudio%2Fvideo%2F2014%2F8%2F20%2F1408529922276%2FJames-Foley-executioner-s-016.jpg%3Fwidth%3D1200%26height%3D630%26quality%3D85%26auto%3Dformat%26fit%3Dcrop%26overlay-align%3Dbottom%252Cleft%26overlay-width%3D100p%26overlay-base64%3DL2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctYWdlLTIwMTQucG5n%26enable%3Dupscale%26s%3D25d1d564c8e1493c7043420f306f8d66)