Intel: UK is Next ’ISIS’ Target Trail for 8th Paris Attacker is Cold

Local Editor

The trail for the eighth Paris attacker, Salah Abdeslam, has gone cold, a senior European counterterrorism official told CNN late Thursday, who also said intelligence indicates "ISIS" wishes to strike the United Kingdom as a follow-up to its recent attack in France.

European security agencies had had no trace of Abdeslam since he was dropped off by a friend in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek on November 14, the day after the attacks. The official said late Thursday investigators now believe he developed cold feet about blowing himself up in Paris.

"He was freaking out, he was scared when he called his friends in Brussels to come and pick him up that night from Paris," the official told CNN.

The official said he believed "ISIS" might not welcome him back into the fold, even if he was able to reach Syria.

Meanwhile, intelligence obtained by European security agencies indicates that "ISIS" is aiming to attack the United Kingdom in a follow-up to its Paris operation, the official said.

The intelligence suggests British "ISIS" militants had been tasked by senior "ISIS" operatives in the so-called caliphate to return home and carry out an attack.

It's not clear how imminent the threat is nor the specific location. However, the official said the concerns had been compounded by the vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday to authorize British airstrikes against "ISIS" in Syria.

The official did not say whether one factor in the intelligence warning was the arrest of a British "ISIS" operative linked to "ISIS" executioner Mohammed Emwazi in Turkey in November.

Aine Lesley Davis, a British "ISIS" operative, was arrested in Istanbul the same day as the Paris attacks as he planned to travel to Europe to deliver orders on planned terror attacks, a Turkish official told CNN last month. The information was first reported by the leading Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, whose account a Turkish official confirmed to CNN.

Davis was arrested after Turkish intelligence worked with Britain's MI6 service to monitor the movements of a messenger linked to Emwazi inside the Syrian city of Raqqa, Hurriyet said.

Intelligence on possible locations in Syria for Davis' colleague, "ISIS" militant Emwazi, were also shared by Turkish National Intelligence to the CIA and MI6. The airstrikes in Raqqa that US officials said killed Mohammed Emwazi "ISIS's" executioner, on November 12 followed hours later, the paper said.

The senior official also told CNN that intelligence suggests one of the most senior figures in "ISIS's" external operations unit is a Tunisian "ISIS" operative, who is believed to have been one of the brains behind the Paris attacks and continues to be involved in plans to attack the West.

They said Western intelligence agencies are aware of his identity and that the Tunisian was working with several French "ISIS" fighters in and around Raqqa.

The official said it was possible the external operations cell reports up to Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, the top "ISIS" leader in Syria, who has repeatedly issued fatwas calling for attacks against Western countries involved in airstrikes against "ISIS".

CNN's Barbara Starr has previously reported Adnani is the head of "ISIS's" external operations, according to US officials.

Source: CNN, Edited by website team