Smile of a depraved killer

On Monday the vile extremist was named as Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, one of ISIS' top recruiters and now among the world's most wanted war criminals.

He is believed to have persuaded thousands of young jihadis to come to Syria, including his 13-year-old brother Younes, ISIS' youngest fanatic. 

In the video footage, Abaaoud is seen driving a pick-up truck with a mound of bloody corpses in tow. One of his accomplices sits perched on the back, while another can be heard complaining about the smell.

The ISIS extremists are seen smiling and joking as the bodies are driven towards what appears to be a mass grave, where they are thought to have been dumped.

In what is believed to be a reference to what pick-up trucks are commonly used for in the West, Abaaoud is heard saying how instead of towing jet skis and motorcycles he and his fellow ISIS fighters are dragging the 'infidels who are fighting us'. 

He says: 'Before we towed jet skis, motorcycles, quad bikes, big trailers filled with gifts for vacation in Morocco. Now, thank God, following God’s path, we’re towing apostates, infidels who are fighting us.'

One of the extremists is thought to be moaning about having to drag the bodies another 50ft to the mass grave, suggesting the corpses are instead cut loose halfway across the field.   It is unclear exactly where in Syria the film was recorded. 

Abaaoud told an IS propaganda magazine he was arrested in Europe in January preparing a mission to kill civilians and behead policemen. Incredibly, he claims he was not detained.

‘My name and picture were all over the news yet I was able to stay in their homeland, plan operations against them and leave safely when doing so became necessary,’ he said.

His earlier plot – in January in the eastern Belgian city of Verviers – was thwarted when police raided the terrorists’ hideout, killing two suspects.

Abaaoud was not found and is thought to have been in Turkey or Greece directing the pair by phone.

Police found four Kalashnikovs, four handguns, ammunition and explosives during the raid as well as a police radio and uniforms.

Two days later, officials in Athens announced they had captured Abaaoud but he had given them the slip.

Describing his return to Belgium for the beheading plot, he said he and his fellow fanatics faced a number of trials but ‘were able to obtain weapons and set up a safe house while we planned to carry out operations’.

He added: ‘After the raid on the safe house, they figured out that I had been with the brothers and that we had been planning operations together.

‘So they gathered intelligence agents from all over the world – from Europe and America – in order to detain me. I was able to leave and come to Syria despite being chased after by so many intelligence agencies. All this proves that a Muslim should not fear the bloated image of the crusader intelligence.’

The brothers he recruited – Brahim and Salah Abdeslam – took part in the cafe and restaurant attacks on Friday night.

Brahim, 31, blew himself up in the Comptoir Voltaire bar while Salah, 26, is the subject of an international manhunt. He was stopped by police on the Belgian border but not detained.

The fanatics grew up in the now notorious Molenbeek district of Brussels, a hotbed of radical Islam.

Abaaoud’s father Omar ran a clothes shop just a few doors down from the Abdeslam family home in the main square in Molenbeek.

Benollal Mohamet, who runs a pharmacy there, said: ‘He would have known the Abdeslam brothers, they were the same age, they lived near each other – it was inevitable that their paths would have crossed. I would never have predicted this.’

Abaaoud attended one of Brussels’ most prestigious schools – Collège Saint-Pierre – but he fell into trouble with the law and was jailed for theft. It is claimed he was then radicalised in Saint Gilles prison in southern Brussels and went to Syria to join IS.

In August he was linked to the terrorist behind a failed attack on a high-speed train from Brussels to Paris.

His father had reported him to police after his youngest son, 13-year-old Younes, went missing last year.

In an interview in January he told of his shame, saying his son had ruined his family. ‘Why in God’s name would he want to kill innocent Belgians? 

Our family owes everything to this country,’ he added.

In July, Abaaoud was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison for recruiting IS fighters to Syria. Many of the 32 people charged with him remain at large.

Belgian authorities refused to comment on Abaaoud’s whereabouts last night – he is believed to be in Syria – or his claim that he had been stopped by police and let go.

In a video released last year he said: ‘All my life, I have seen the blood of Muslims flow. Pray that Allah will break the backs of those who oppose him, his soldiers and his admirers, and that he will exterminate them.’

Another video shows him loading a pick-up truck and a makeshift trailer with a mound of bloodied corpses. Trying to recruit others, he says: ‘Are you satisfied with the life you lead, a humiliating life, whether you are in Europe, in Africa, in Arab countries or in America? Are you satisfied with this life, with this life of humiliation? Is there anything better than jihad or a martyr?’

Last night, it was claimed that Abaaoud and Salah Abdeslam once carried out a robbery together. Belgian broadcaster RTL said Salah had spent time in prison in Belgium for ‘hold-ups’ and the name of Abaaoud figured in the court and police documents relating to the case.

According to the De Standaard newspaper, Abaaoud is also mentioned in files relating to Brahim Abdeslam for alleged crimes carried out in Brussels in 2010 and 2011.

Abaaoud even featured in an online ISIS terror magazine Dabiq featuring his life as a Jihadi. 

According to the interview, he traveled to Syria 'to terrorise the crusaders waging war against the Muslims'. 

He said: 'Belgium is a member of the crusader coalition attacking the Muslims of Iraq and Sham (Syria). 

Abaaoud claimed that in the past he returned to Belgium to set up a safe house to plan further raids across Europe. 

He said his plot failed: 'The kuffar raided the pace with more than 150 soldiers from both French and Belgian special forces units.' He said both of his men were killed in the shootout. 

He claimed it was after this, he returned to Syria due to the attentions of European security agencies.  

French police have said Abaaoud planned the attack from his base in Syria with help in Belgium and France.

Abaaoud, who has regularly posed with bodies he decapitated and was seen in Greece in January but evaded arrest, was also linked to the thwarted high speed train attack earlier this year and church attacks around Paris.  

(dailymail.co.uk)