British and American authorities say they know the identity of the Islamic State hostage killer and executioner Jihadi John- and are set to reveal it within days.
The executioner is one of four British jihadis known as the 'Beatles' holding hostages in Syria.
Sources told the Mirror that anti-terror experts from the UK and U.S. know the identity of three of them and are tracking down the group.
An FBI team flown into Britian last month is now closing in on 12 suspects in the UK, who are believed to have provided money, contacts and helped Jihadi John travel to Syria.
An American source told the paper the 'hardened terrorists' include several from the West Midlands who are already known to UK security services.
They said : 'We are 99.9% certain now as to who ‘John’ is but investigators have had to tread softly in charting and approaching his wider network in the UK.
'Familiar names of what can only be described as hardened extremists with a jihadi background have cropped up in this investigation.'
The source said the identity of the executioners would most likely be revealed officially within the coming days.
Gruesome footage showing the beheading of American journalist James Foley was released last month by the Islamic State, followed by a video of the execution of fellow American hostage Steven Sotloff last week.
Authorities are now in a race against time to save the life of British hostage, aid worker David Haines, who the masked jihadi has revealed is next for execution.
It comes after it was reported that father-of-two Mr Haines has been struggling to hold down food and suffering from acute gastric and other health problems in his cramped captivity.
The disclosure that Haines, 44, has been suffering physical difficulties alongside inevitable mental turmoil must have added to the distress of his wife Dragana, who lives in Croatia with their four-year-old daughter, and family in Scotland during their agonising wait for news.
A security source familiar with the cases described the hostages’ internment as a ‘living hell’.
Mr Haines, originally from Perth in Scotland, has been badly tortured, especially during the first six months after his abduction in March last year at a refugee camp in northern Syria.
IS videos show British and US captives dressed in orange jumpsuits, a clear reference to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The most recent video showed a gaunt Haines held by the collar as a black-clad, English extremist warned Britain to abandon ‘this evil alliance of America’.
