Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate has released a video of a U.S. suicide bomber who blew himself up at an army post in the northwest of the country in May, Agence France-Presse reported Saturday.



Moner Mohammad Abu Salha, who went by the alias of Abu Hurayra al-Amriki, was believed to be the first American national to carry out such an attack in Syria.



“I want to rest in the afterlife, not in this world... My heart is not at peace here. Hopefully it will be in heaven,” Abu Hurayra says in broken Arabic in the video posted on YouTube on Friday by al-Nusra Front. It is not clear when the video was recorded.



The 17-minute footage, released via al-Nusra’s official channel al-Manara al-Baydaa, also shows Abu Hurayra saying: “I came to Syria without money to buy a rifle or a pouch."



“God gave me a rifle and a pouch and everything, and... (then) he gave me even more,” he added.



The American jihadist carried out a May 25 truck bomb attack on an army base in Jabal al-Arbaeen area of northwest Syria’s Idlib province.



The U.S. citizen, who is from Florida, travelled to Syria in 2013



Estimates of the number of foreign fighters who have flooded into Syria in the past three years range from between 9,000 to 11,000.



The video gives few details about Abu Hurayra’s precise background, but shows him alongside three other suicide bombers.





Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:43 - GMT 06:43