Report: Former Gitmo Prisoner Wages Jihad on Behalf of Al-Qaeda in Syria

At least two former Guantánamo Bay detainees from the United Kingdom have reportedly re-engaged in terrorist activities. One carried out a suicide attack on behalf of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in Iraq last week, and the other has reportedly joined a group affiliated with al-Qaeda in Syria.

Several news reports last week revealed that the ISIS-affiliated British jihadist blew himself up in a suicide attack against U.S.-backed coalition forces near Mosul, Iraq.

Less than a week later, the Sunday Times reports that another British terrorist, identified as using the pseudonym Abu Mugheera al-Britani, is believed to have joined jihadists linked to al-Qaeda in Syria.

“I thank Allah for releasing me and providing me with the opportunity of carrying out jihad in his path again,” the al-Qaeda affiliated jihadist reportedly wrote in an online article published by the terrorist group’s propaganda magazine al-Risalah (Arabic for “The Message”).

In the article, he also noted that he “spent years in captivity” at the Guantánamo facility, commonly known as Gitmo, and traveled to “the blessed land of al-Sham,” or Syria, after his release.

Citing unnamed security sources, the Times acknowledges that Abu Mugheera may no longer be in war-ravaged Syria.

The Sunday Times’ report comes less than a week after several news outlets revealed that a British Muslim convert carried out an ISIS-linked suicide attack last Monday against U.S.-backed coalition forces in Iraq.

Born Ronald Fiddler, the British convert changed his name to Jamal Udeen al-Harith and used the nom de guerre Abu-Zakariya al-Britani.

Al-Harith belonged to a network of former Gitmo detainees who have returned to terrorism, notes the Times.

He was one of 17 former Guantánamo prisoners who shared an estimated $25 million award from the U.K. government in 2010.

The former Gitmo detainees received the payout after threatening to go to court, claiming officials at the U.S. detention center mistreated them.

According to estimates by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), 30 percent of released Gitmo detainees are suspected or confirmed to have re-engaged in terrorist activities.