Three Paris attackers in IS recruitment files

Paris, Mar 12: The names of three of the Paris attackers have appeared in the Islamic State's files, the media reported.

Samy Amimour, Foued Mohamed-Aggad and Omar Ismail Mostefai, the three men who carried out the attack at the Bataclan theatre where 90 people died, were featured in the files leaked from the group, BBC reported.

The three attacked the Bataclan during a concert by Eagles of Death Metal.

The IS files, obtained by German, British and Syrian media, have identified thousands of jihadi recruits from at least 40 countries. German officials have said that the files were genuine.

Around 22,000 fighters were identified by the documents, with one file for each recruit listing name, address and other information. However, many of the names given may be duplicates.

The files indicate that the three men entered IS territory in 2013 and 2014.

Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere earlier said that the information contained in the files could help to prosecute IS fighters, and help prevent future recruitment.

Files were first published online (documents in Arabic) by Zaman Al-Wasl, a Qatari-based Syrian news website.

Dutch media identified Abu Jihad al-Hollandi from the documents as Amsterdam teenager Achraf Bouamran, who was killed in a US air strike on the Syrian IS stronghold of Raqqa in January 2015.

Counter-terrorism police in Germany were studying the documents.

"IS poses a severe threat... it is important for us to work together to counter this threat," British Home Secretary Theresa May said.

Sky News reported that the documents came from a man called Abu Hamed, an IS fighter who said he had become disillusioned with the group's leadership and stolen a memory stick from the head of the IS internal security force before handing it over in Turkey.

IANS