Omar al-Faruq, one of al-Qaeda's most senior global operatives, escaped from an American military prison in Afghanistan in July, US defense officials said today.
The Kuwaiti man, who was captured in Indonesia in 2002 and turned over to the United States, was among four prisoners who fled heavily fortified Bagram Air Base prison on July 10th, the officials said.
He remains at large. The officials, who asked not to be identified, did not explain why the United States did not reveal Faruq was among the four men until pressed by lawyers this week at a military trial in Texas of an Army sergeant charged with maltreating detainees in Afghanistan.
At the time of his capture in June 2002, Faruq was al-Qaeda's most senior operative in Southeast Asia, according to intelligence officials. "Al-Faruq was one of the four who escaped on July 10 from the Bagram detention facility," said one of the defense officials at the Pentagon.
In Kabul, the US military released a statement saying prison security procedures were bolstered immediately after the breakout of the four men, and that a search for them continued with help from Afghanistan's government.
Defense officials said officials at Bagram changed their procedures for accounting for prisoners in the aftermath of the escape.
Faruq's disappearance did not come to light until defense attorneys for Army Sgt. Alan Driver demanded yesterday to know where the al-Qaeda operative was so he could testify at the military trial. Military prosecutors conceded they could not produce him as a witness because he had escaped.