'Jihadi John' identified as University of Westminster student, Reuters reports,

 Popular militant Jihadi John (pictured)with British accent seen in ISIS videos showing the beheadings of Western hostages was identified Thursday as Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born Londoner, the Reuters news agency reported, citing The Washington Post and the BBC.

The identity of the man, who's become widely known as "Jihadi John," was confirmed to the Post by one of Emwazi's close friends, the newspaper reported.

 

 Emwazi, 27, of Queen’s Park, west London, who studied computer programming at the University of Westminster, is said to have travelled to the Middle East in 2012 and later joined ISIS.

 

Jihadi John has featured in the execution videos of U.S. journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, aid worker David Haines, 22 Syrian soldiers and Japanese reporter Kenji Goto.

A UK human rights group that had contact with Emwazi before he went to Syria also told the newspaper it believes him to be Jihadi John.

 

London's Metropolitan Police declined to confirm the reported identity.

 

"We have previously asked media outlets not to speculate about the details of our investigation on the basis that life is at risk," said Commander Richard Walton of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command.

"We are not going to confirm the identity of anyone at this stage or give an update on the progress of this live counter terrorism investigation."

 

A UK Foreign Office spokeswoman told CNN: "We will neither confirm nor deny the current reporting as to the identity of Jihadi John."