Kurdish forces say they have an American ISIS fighter in custody

An American in ISIS.
(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/RudawEnglish)

Kurdish forces have detained an American fighting for ISIS in Iraq, The Washington Post reports.

According to Major General Feisal Helkani of the peshmerga — the Kurdish fighting force — and other reports in the Kurdish media, the detainee is a 27-year-old man named Mohammed Jamal Amin who is reportedly from Virginia.

Amin was captured in the city of Sinjar in northern Iraq, reportedly surrendering to the peshmerga after approaching Kurdish fighters and being shot at. According to Kurdish officials and images posted on social media, Amin had a large sum of Turkish money, three cellphones, and a Virginia's drivers license on his person. The New York Times reports that Amin apparently had spent time in Mosul, Iraq, after entering through Syria and Turkey several months ago.

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Despite the exposure that Amin's detainment is getting on Kurdish television, however, the U.S. embassy in Baghdad could not confirm that an American was in custody. According to CBS News, the embassy "had only recently become aware of the reports."

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Benjamin Shull

Benjamin Shull is an assistant books editor with The Wall Street Journal and a contributor to The Week. Follow him on Twitter.