German jihadist with links to 9/11 attacks arrested in Syria

«Zammar was arrested a few days ago in northern Syria after close observation,» a high-ranking source from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), who asked not to be named, told dpa.

Another Kurdish military source said Zammar, who is now a member of the Islamic State terrorist group, was being kept in a safe place and interrogated by the «Asayish,» or Kurdish security organization.

The military source said Zammar was being kept at Kurdish intelligence headquarters near al-Raqqa.

Neither source would give details about the exact place of Zammar’s arrest or the date on which it took place.

Zammar was born in Aleppo in 1960 and is believed to have previously worked as an al-Qaeda recruiter, finding some of those who carried out the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Zammar, who moved to Germany at the age of ten, became associated with al-Qaeda at an early age.

In 2001, he was detained in Morocco with the help of US agents.

Instead of being deported to the US, however, he was handed over the following year to Syria, which sentenced him to 12 years in jail for being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was banned in Syria.

In 2013, Zammar was released by the Syrian government as part of a prisoner exchange with Syrian Islamist rebels, according to Syrian activists.

Source: dpa