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Isis leader gave intelligence to the US leading to deaths of al Qaeda fighters, new documents show

Alleged Isis chief Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla.
Alleged Isis chief Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla.

The current Isis leader gave intelligence to US forces leading to strikes on al-Qaeda, newly released files show.

Documents released on Thursday suggest Muhammad Sa'id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla gave information after his arrest in 2008 on dozens of fellow jihadists as well as the structure of al Qaeda in Mosul.

He allegedly provided names for 68 al-Qaeda fighters including 19 from photographs.

Three Tactical Interrogation Reports released by the Combating Terrorism Centre (CTC) allege al-Mawla, who at the time was an al-Qaeda judge, identified leading figures behind assassinations, kidnappings and the production of improved explosive devices, used to kill coalition forces.

One jihadist was a Moroccan national called Abu Jasim Abu Qaswarah.

Thought to be the second-in-command of al-Qaeda in Iraq at the time, he was killed by US forces eight months after al-Mawla named him as a member of the terrorist group.

Islamic State fighters march through Raqqa, Syria, before they were ejected by Coalition forces. Jan 14, 2014. - Militant Website
Islamic State fighters march through Raqqa, Syria, before they were ejected by Coalition forces. Jan 14, 2014. - Militant Website

In the documents released by the West Point-based think tank al-Mawla supposedly admitted knowledge of executions and assassinations carried out by the group starting to call itself Islamic State in Iraq.

The heavily redacted documents outline the organisational structure of al-Qaeda in Iraq and the emerging Islamic State based on al-Mawla’s information. The reports say al-Mawla provided details on “all key Amir positions” and oversaw the group’s media cell, for which he had to authorise all output to ensure it adhered to sharia principles.

Tactical Interrogation Report ‘B’ states: ‘Detainee identified a number of photographs of “HVI” (high value individuals) from the Mosul area’.

In a webinar hosted by the CTC Craig Whiteside, Associate Professor of National Security Affairs at the US Naval War College, said al-Mawla “doesn’t seem to have much in the way of probity...he was ratting out so many of his colleagues”.

Gina Ligon, an organisational psychologist, said the documents showed “a lot of punitive language” suggesting al-Mawla held grudges easily. He likely viewed people as “expendable resources that he could discard [and no more than] cogs in a greater machine”.

Over the course of three interrogation sessions, al-Mawla named 68 individuals, providing physical descriptions, mobile phone numbers and roles in the organisation. Some individuals were later arrested and some killed by Coalition forces.

“They were key to his release so he gave them up,” Ms Ligon said. “This is a distant leader who will callously give people up when they are no longer of use to him”

US soldiers carry shotguns as they walk along a corridor separating what they deem to be the most extreme and dangerous detainees held inside the Camp Bucca detention center located near the Kuwait-Iraq border. May 19, 2008. - DAVID FURST/AFP
US soldiers carry shotguns as they walk along a corridor separating what they deem to be the most extreme and dangerous detainees held inside the Camp Bucca detention center located near the Kuwait-Iraq border. May 19, 2008. - DAVID FURST/AFP

Arrested in 2008 by US forces al-Mawla was interrogated in Umm Qasr, southern Iraq, at Camp Bucca, named after Ronald Bucca, a New York City fire marshal who died in the 9/11 attacks.

He was released in 2009 and only recently came to prominence when he took over the leadership of Isis following the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in October last year.

Al-Mawla, known by Isis as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, is thought to be in the desert region of  eastern Syria and westerm Iraq. He is still a target of the US-led coalition.

Al-Mawla, 43, is an Islamic scholar, although some Isis members question his religious credentials to be leader. The documents say he previously wrote speeches for al-Baghdadi and was the Imam at the al-Furqan mosque in Mosul.

Between 2000 and 2002 he served as a conscripted infantry soldier in Saddam Hussein’s army. He is believed to be married with one son.

Haroro Ingram, Senior Research Fellow at George Washington University's Programme on Extremism, said the documents will “really shake trust“ in al-Mawla's leadership of Isis.

"They show he can't be trusted."

Security experts believe Isis are still not a spent force and have inspired attacks in the West in recent years such as the Manchester Arena bombing.

A security source told the Telegraph Isis has lost territory “but their messages of hate live on”.

“Because their bubble was squeezed [in Iraq and Syria] they are looking to expand in other areas, particularly Africa."