A militant who fought for the Taliban in Afghanistan and held without charge at Guantanamo Bay for 13 years was largely a victim of mistaken identity, NBC News reported.
Captured in 2002, Mustafa Abd-al-Qawi Abd-al-Aziz al-Shamiri was believed to be a member of al Qaeda, the Department of Defense said in a document Tuesday.
"We now judge that these activities were carried out by other known extremists" with similar names or aliases, the profile of the Yemeni detainee dated Sept. 25 added.
The department conceded there was no evidence he was part of al Qaeda’s October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, despite finding links to fighting in Bosnia in 1995. He also admitted that he fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2000 to 2001, according to the document.
