Here Is The Army’s Secret File On The Leader Of ISIS
Relatively little is known about Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the jihadist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS and ISIL). However, newly declassified military documents obtained by Business Insider on Wednesday reveal several new details about the ISIS leader.
The records come from time Baghdadi spent in US Army custody in Iraq. They were released through a Freedom of Information Act request. In these files, Baghdadi was identified by his birth name, Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Al Badry.
There have been conflicting reports about the time Baghdadi spent as a US detainee. These files identify his "capture date" as Feb. 4, 2004 and the date of his "release in place" as Dec. 8, 2004. According to the records, Baghdadi was captured in Fallujah and held at multiple prison facilities including Camp Bucca and Camp Adder.
In the book "ISIS: Inside The Army of Terror," Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassan relay an account of Baghdadi's capture from ISIS expert Dr. Hisham al-Hashimi. In the interview, al-Hashimi said Baghdadi was captured by US military intelligence while visiting a friend in Fallujah named Nessayif Numan Nessayif.
"Baghdadi was not the target — it was Nessayif," said al-Hashimi, who consults with the Iraqi government and claims to have met the ISIS leader in the 1990s.
Baghdadi's detainee I.D. card lists him as a "civilian detainee," which means he was not a member of a foreign armed force or militia, but was still held for security reasons. His "civilian occupation" was identified as "ADMINISTRATIVE WORK (SECRETARY)." As of 2014, he was listed as being 43 years old though his birth date was redacted. Baghdadi's birthplace was identified as Fallujah.
These records also provide some details about Baghdadi's family. His file identifies him as married and his next of kin was an uncle. The names of his family members were redacted from the records.
View the Baghdadi files below. According to Army Corrections Command, some of the records requested by Business Insider remain classified. We are working to obtain all possible files from Baghdadi's detention.
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