Va. Man Faces US Charges After Joining, Quitting Islamic State

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A Virginia man who authorities say joined the Islamic State group before surrendering to Kurdish authorities has been flown back to the U.S. to face terror-related charges.

A judge on Thursday unsealed charges against Mohamad Khweis, 26, of Alexandria alleging he provided material support to terrorists and agreed to be a suicide bomber.

Khweis was captured by Kurdish forces in northern Iraq in March. He told his captors he was a Palestinian-American who had gone to join the Islamic State. But he told Kurdish television he became disenchanted with life in the Islamic State and made his way to the front lines to surrender.

At the time of his capture, U.S. authorities and even Khweis' own family appeared to be caught off guard that he had left the U.S. to join the militant group.

An FBI affidavit states that an Islamic State group member asked Khweis whether he was willing to serve as a suicide bomber. Khweis said he agreed, but he told U.S. authorities that he believed the question was a test of his loyalty.

According to the affidavit, Khweis received training in Islamic law during his time there, but the affidavit makes no mention of military training. Khweis told investigators that the only time he touched a gun in his time there was to move it off a couch so he could sit down.

Khweis told the FBI he developed an interest in joining the Islamic State in mid-2015, and that he left in December from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to Turkey in December 2015, according to the affidavit. He sold his car before departing.

"The defendant was inspired to join ISIL because he saw that they had established an Islamic caliphate and were in the process of expanding it," FBI agent Victoria Martinez wrote in her affidavit. "The defendant statedthat he knew ISIL used violence in its expansion of the caliphate, but he also stated that ISIL engaged in peaceful and humanitarian efforts."

From Turkey, he made contact with Islamic State facilitators who smuggled him and others into Syria, and stayed in Islamic State safe houses in the Syrian city of Raqqa during the month of January, according to the affidavit.

At one of the safe houses, Islamic State officials said the recruits would be trained to return to their home countries and conduct attacks on behalf of the Islamic State, according to the affidavit. Khweis told investigators he never agreed to participate is such an operation.

According to the affidavit, Khweis admitted burning his laptop and destroying two mobile phones before surrendering to the Kurds.

Khweis is scheduled for an initial appearance at U.S. District Court in Alexandria Thursday afternoon. Court records do not yet list an attorney for him.