Abdel Hakim al Hasidi, the leader of the Libyan rebels, said that the people who fought against the allied troops in Iraq are now on the battlefield, facing the forces of Muammar al-Gaddafi's regime, writes "Telegraph".
Al Hasidi, in an interview with "Il sole 24 ore" admitted that he had recruited "about 25 people" from the area of Derna in eastern Libya, in order to fight against the coalition forces in Iraq.
Some of them are now on the front line in Ajdabiya, he said.
Al Hasidi claims that its fighters are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists, and points out that Al Qaeda members are also good Muslims and are fighting invaders.
His admission came as Idris Deby Itno, Chad's president, said al-Qaeda had seized military arsenals in rebel-held areas of Libya and that the network had obtained various weapons, such as surface-to-air missiles, which were then transferred to their shelters.
Fought in Afghanistan, captured in Pakistan
Al Hasidi admitted to fighting the invasion of Afghanistan by foreign forces before he was captured in 2002 in Peshawar, Pakistan.
He was then transferred to the United States, and was held in Libya until 2008, when he was released.
US and British government sources say Al Hasidi is a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), which killed dozens of Libyan soldiers in guerrilla attacks around Derna and Benghazi in 1995 and 1996.
Although the LIFG is not part of the Al Qaeda network, the US military academy at West Point said the two groups share an "elevated cooperative relationship."
Documents from 2007, seized by allied forces in Sinjar, show that LIFG members are the second largest company of fighters in Iraq, after Saudi Arabia.
In early March, Al Qaeda called on its supporters to support the uprising in Libya, which they believe would lead to the imposition of a "phase of Islam" in the country.
British Islamists also supported the rebellion, with the former head of the outlawed group Al Muhajiroon declaring that the call for "Islam, Sharia and Jihad from Libya shook the enemies of Islam and Muslims more than the tsunami that Allah sent against their friends the Japanese".
Since the beginning of the unrest in Libya, Libyan President Gaddafi has claimed that Al-Qaeda is behind it.
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