The man who carried out a suicide car-bombing at an Iraqi military post in the city of Mosul last week was a British citizen who had been released from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in 2004, Western security sources have said.
News agencies reported on February 22 that the Islamic State (IS) militant who carried out the attack was Abu-Zakariya al-Britani, a British citizen formerly known as Ronald Fiddler.
One Iraqi soldier was killed and four were wounded in the Mosul attack. IS sources released a photograph of Britani taken shortly before the attack, and Western security sources said it was "highly likely" that Britani was the attacker.
Originally from Manchester, Britani converted to Islam when he was in his 20s. He was detained by U.S. forces in Afghanistan in 2002 and sent to Guantanamo.
He was released in 2004 after lobbying by the government of British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The Daily Mail reported that Britani was awarded $1.25 million in compensation by the British government in 2010 for alleged mistreatment while he was in U.S. custody.
The British government has acknowledged that payments were made, but has not provided details because of confidentiality agreements.
Britani later travelled to Syria and fought with the IS extremist organization.
