U.S. intel official confirms identity of "Jihadi John"

Last Updated Feb 26, 2015 11:36 AM EST

LONDON -- The knife-wielding masked ISIS militant seen in a number of beheading videos and dubbed "Jihadi John" has been named as Mohammed Emwazi, a London man with a college degree, a U.S. intelligence official confirmed to CBS News Thursday.

Emwazi earned his degree from the University of Westminster, the official told CBS News.

Both The Washington Post and the BBC reported Thursday that he was known to British security services by 2011 at the latest.

Friends of Emwazi spoke to the Post on condition of anonymity, including one who said that they had "no doubt" Emwazi was the man who appeared in ISIS' execution videos.

"Jihadi John" appeared in a video released in August showing the slaying of American journalist James Foley. A man with similar stature and voice was also featured in videos of the killings of American journalist Steven Sotloff, Britons David Haines and Alan Henning and U.S. aid worker Peter Kassig.

The research director at a British human rights group also told the Post that he believed Emwazi was the man in the videos.

"There was an extremely strong resemblance," Asim Qureshi told the Post. "This is making me feel fairly certain that this is the same person."

At press conference Thursday, Qureshi told reporters that he couldn't be "100 percent certain" that the two men were the same.

"The guy's got a hood on his head," Qureshi said.

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U.S. intel official confirms identity of "Jihadi John"