British television channel Sky News said on Thursday that it had obtained thousands of documents containing the names, addresses, telephone numbers and contact details of around 22,000 Islamic State fighters and their family members. According to the broadcaster, these files contain details of nationals of at least 51 countries, who had to give up personal information in a 23-question form in order to be inducted into the terror group.

Abu Hamed, a former member of IS, handed over the data to Sky News on a memory stick, the report said. Hamed said he quit the group because the Islamic rules he believed in collapsed inside the organisation, which he claims has been taken over by former soldiers of Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi Baath Party. He added that IS was moving its headquarters to the central deserts of Syria and ultimately Iraq. He also said that IS, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units militia and Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s government were working together against the Syrian opposition.

A spokesperson for British Prime Minister David Cameron told PTI, "What's important now is that the authorities can look at how this information can be used in the fight against Daesh (the Arabic name of IS) and if it can then we would welcome that."