In 2008 US forces captured Qurayshi in Mosul and detained him in a US detention facility called Camp Bucca, according to research by Feras Kilani, a BBC correspondent who interviewed Qurayshi and carried out an investigation into Islamic State’s leadership after Baghdadi.

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Camp Bucca was notorious for holding al-Qaeda and Islamic State of Iraq inmates who made important connections with each other while in the jail, including Baghdadi. Qurayshi was released the following year.

Qurayshi had joined the jihadist insurgency against the US occupation of Iraq between 2003 and 2004, according to Kilani, and eventually worked his way up the ranks of Islamic State.

At some point in the past, he had served in Saddam’s army, Iraqi security officials say. Many insurgents took up arms against US troops after Washington’s representative in Iraq ordered the disbanding of the Iraqi military and black-listed thousands of commanders associated with Saddam’s Baath party.

Iraqi security officials said Qurayshi fled across the border to Syria when the group was routed in 2017 and had since been hiding out in remote areas, moving around to avoid detection and trying to resuscitate Islamic State.

His nom-de-guerre, Qurayshi, indicates that he is believed to trace his lineage from the Prophet Mohammed, giving him religious clout among fellow jihadists.

Reuters

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