Britain denounces Islamic State video showing ‘spies’ shot

And, though the video was not yet authenticated, news outlets were already comparing the grisly spectacle to the work of Jihadi John.

The video also featured a boy with a British accent wearing army fatigues and calling for the deaths of non-believers.

Helen Bower, spokeswoman for Prime Minister David Cameron, said an initial assessment has been completed, but that officials won’t comment on the identities of the people involved “at any stage of the process”.

The SITE Intelligence Group said the video shows five men from Raqqa, capital of the self-declared jihadist “caliphate” straddling Syria and Iraq, confessing to carrying out acts of espionage.

The father-of-four had joined the radical group al-Muhajiroun in Britain, according to BBC.

In the 10-minute recording, a masked man with an English accent threatens IS will one day invade Britain and impose their version of Islamic law.

There is speculation he is Siddhartha Dhar, a Muslim convert from Walthamstow, east London.

The extremists have frequently used young children in propaganda videos, said Olivier Guitta, director of the consulting group GlobalStrat.

Robb Leech, a filmmaker who was making a documentary about his stepbrother who faced terrorism charges, told BBC radio that he met Dhar before he joined ISIL, and agreed the man in the video sounds like Dhar.

Although the possible link to the video has brought renewed scrutiny on Dhar, his sister said she isn’t sure he’s the man in the video and some who knew him in Britain say they can’t be positive it’s him. I can’t believe it. This is just so shocking for me. The British press nicknamed him “Jihadi Junior” and a London man told Channel 4 Tuesday that he boy was his grandson. He points to the Western world, and says, “We are going to go kill the kafir [unbelievers] over there”.

Following the revelation, British security authorities have been questioned over why Dhar was able to travel to Syria with his family under the noses of the security services.

David Cameron described the video as “desperate stuff” from a group that is “losing territory”.

Since Britain’s Parliament approved Cameron’s December request for authorization to launch airstrikes against ISIS positions in Syria, the anti-British propaganda video is the first to surface from the Islamic State extremists.

In the video, the masked gunman warned Mr Cameron that the West could never win the war against Isil.