Jihadi John May Have 'Decoy' In IS Video

Jihadi John, the Islamic State militant believed to be responsible for the beheading of five Western hostages, could have a body double, according to analysts.

The Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium (TRAC) and the Quilliam Foundation have carried out a joint analysis of the latest IS video , which showed the severed head of American Peter Kassig.

In the video which appeared online on 16 November, a militant stands before the head and says in a British accent: "This is Peter Edward Kassig, a US citizen, of your country; Peter who fought against the Muslims in Iraq, while serving as a soldier."

The video also shows what is apparently the mass beheading of captured Syrian soldiers.

Veryan Khan, TRAC's editorial director, told Sky News that a masked militant who is roughly the same size and shape as Jihadi John is mistakenly included for around a tenth of a second.

Ms Khan told Sky News: "He could be a stand in, a double, he could be a decoy, or he just happens to have the same shape and size."

A body double could be used to confuse drones seeking to kill the militant, or to conceal the death or sickness of "Jihadi John", Ms Khan added.

However, Ms Khan stressed: "I don't want you to get stuck on the potential relationship between the two masked men of the video.

"The masked man at the end could have been so important (more important than Jihadi John) that he had to remain covered, or he could have been the most senior level authority, there to make sure this important filming went off without a hitch."

The analysts found that Mr Kassig, who took the name Abdul-Rahman whilst in captivity, had a large bruise over his eye.

They believe this suggests that the former soldier could have put up a struggle before he was killed.

"The most striking feature is you never see his body," Ms Khan said.

"I've never witnessed a beheading video that didn't show the head on the body."

Ms Khan added: "I think they had to do it quickly."

The main message of the video is that the rise of the group's self-declared "caliphate", or Islamic state, cannot be stopped, the analysts say.

They say the section showing the killing of the Syrian soldiers took four to six hours to produce and was "well staged".

Jihadi John is believed to be responsible for the killings of Britons David Haines and Alan Henning, and Americans James Foley and Steven Sotloff.