Syria Suicide Bombing: American Carried Out the Deadly Attack, Officials Confirm

A suicide bombing in northern Syria Saturday, May 25 ,was carried out by an American citizen, the U.S. officials confirmed Friday.

Jen Psaki, spokesman of the State Department, said that Florida man Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha from an Islamist fundamentalist group was involved in the truck explosion at a mountaintop restaurant in the northern province of Idlib, May 25.

"I can confirm that this individual was a US citizen involved in a suicide bombing in Syria. We don't have further information beyond that to share at this time," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

The alleged suicide bomber also went by the alias Abu Hurayra al-Amriki that translates in to 'the American,' Psaki said.

Abu-Salha is the first known American to have participated in suicide bombing in Syria on behalf of Al-Qaida, Laith Alkhouri, a senior analyst with Flashpoint Global Partners that monitors militant websites for government and private clients told Haaretz.

Abu-Salha who was in his 20s reportedly spent two months at a training camp, run by the Jabhat al-Nusra, Al-Qaida's affiliate fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government. He traveled to Syria to fight in the civil war.

The truck bombing was one of four suicide bombings that occurred in Idlib during that day.

Psaki acknowledged concerns about the flow of foreign fighters into Syria. Around 9,000 to 11,000 foreign fighters have flooded into Syria past 3 years. Most of them are believed to have come from neighboring countries.

No precise figures are known about how many Americans may be among them. However, The New York Times report states that at least 100 Americans are believed to have travelled to Syria, mainly to join the rebels fighting to oust al-Assad. "We're engaged in a focused outreach effort with key partner governments regarding our shared concern over the flow of foreign fighters to the Syrian conflict," Psaki said.

Rebels from the al-Nusra Front said Abu-Salha's truck had 16 tonnes of explosives to destroy Idlib's al-Fanar restaurant, where Syrian troops were said to gather, according to Al Jazeera. Asaad Kanjo, an opposition activist based in Saraqeb town in Idlib, said he heard that Abu-Salha had arrived in Syria a few months back and then tore up his American passport.

"From what I heard, I believe he was an American of Arab origin. People said that he spoke Arabic with a foreign accent, and he used to speak classical Arabic,'' Kanjo said.

Earlier this month, FBI director James Comey said more Americans had joined the civil war in Syria. Recently, the U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled a new $5 billion fund to fight terrorism.