| Omar al-Faruq | |
| Birth Date: | 1969[1] |
| Birth Place: | Iraq |
| Place Of Arrest: | Bogor, Indonesia |
| Arresting Authority: | Indonesian authorities |
| Death Place: | Basra, Iraq |
| Citizenship: | Iraqi |
| Detained At: | Bagram Theater Internment Facility |
| Alias: | Faruq al-Iraqi |
| Status: | escaped custody, deceased |
Omar al-Faruq (Arabic: عمر الفاروق; 1969 – 25 September 2006), also spelled or al-Farouq or al-Farooq, born Mahmoud Ahmad Mohammed Ahmad, was an Islamic militant with high-profile connections with Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah in Southeast Asia particularly the Philippines and Indonesia.
Al-Faruq was born in Iraq. It is believed he joined al-Qaeda in the early 1990s and trained in Afghanistan, where he became one of Osama bin Laden's key lieutenants. U.S. authorities believed al-Faruq was planning bomb attacks on American embassies when he was captured in Bogor, Indonesia in 2002 by Indonesian security agents who handed him over to the United States.[2] [3] Al-Faruq's capture was based on information derived from the capture of Abu Zubaydah.[4] Al-Faruq in turn revealed information about a plot to bomb embassies in Southeast Asia, giving rise to the "yellow alert" of 10 September 2002.[3]
He was sent to Bagram Theater Internment Facility in Afghanistan. In July 2005, al-Faruq escaped from Bagram prison with three other al-Qaeda suspects. The U.S. authorities did not acknowledge his escape until November, when they were unable to produce him as a witness called by defense attorney Michael Waddington, in the trial of a U.S. sergeant, Alan Driver, accused of abuse at the prison.
On 25 September 2006, Al-Faruq was killed by British troops operating in the Iraqi city of Basra. The operations took place in pre-dawn hours and involved more than 200 soldiers. There were no British casualties.[5]