Omar al-Faruq
Born1969[1]
Iraq
ArrestedBogor, Indonesia
Indonesian authorities
Died25 September 2006(2006-09-25) (aged 36–37)
Basra, Iraq
CitizenshipIraqi
Detained at Bagram Theater Internment Facility
Other name(s) Faruq al-Iraqi
Statusescaped custody, deceased

Omar al-Faruq (Arabic: عمر الفاروق; 1969 – 25 September 2006), also spelled or al-Farouq or al-Farooq, born Mahmoud Ahmad Mohammed Ahmad, was an Islamic militant with high-profile connections with Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah in Southeast Asia particularly the Philippines and Indonesia.

Biography

Al-Faruq was born in Iraq. It is believed he joined al-Qaeda in the early 1990s and trained in Afghanistan, where he became one of Osama bin Laden's key lieutenants. U.S. authorities believed al-Faruq was planning bomb attacks on American embassies when he was captured in Bogor, Indonesia in 2002 by Indonesian security agents who handed him over to the United States.[2][3] Al-Faruq's capture was based on information derived from the capture of Abu Zubaydah.[4] Al-Faruq in turn revealed information about a plot to bomb embassies in Southeast Asia, giving rise to the "yellow alert" of 10 September 2002.[3]

He was sent to Bagram Theater Internment Facility in Afghanistan. In July 2005, al-Faruq escaped from Bagram prison with three other al-Qaeda suspects. The U.S. authorities did not acknowledge his escape until November, when they were unable to produce him as a witness called by defense attorney Michael Waddington, in the trial of a U.S. sergeant, Alan Driver, accused of abuse at the prison.

On 25 September 2006, Al-Faruq was killed by British troops operating in the Iraqi city of Basra. The operations took place in pre-dawn hours and involved more than 200 soldiers. There were no British casualties.[5]

References

  1. Tavernise, Sabrina (26 September 2006). "Qaeda Operative is Killed in Iraq". The New York Times.
  2. "Profile: Omar al-Farouq". BBC. 26 September 2006. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  3. 1 2 "Al-Qaida: Dead or captured". NBC News. 23 April 2004. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
  4. Confessions of an al-Qaeda Terrorist Archived 23 December 2005 at the Wayback Machine, Time, 15 September 2002
  5. Top al Qaeda figure killed in Iraq Archived 11 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Reuters, 25 September 2006
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