Captured American Islamic State Fighter Admits 'I Made A Bad Decision'

Mohamad Jamal Khweis, a 26-year-old Virginia resident, confesses that he made a bad decision he regrets. He went all the way to Turkey, where he met a woman recruiter before he left for the IS-held city of Mosul in Iraq.

"We spent some time together, and she said that she is from Mosul, Iraq," Khweis said. They travelled from Istanbul to Mosul by bus as well as a private vehicle and finally arrived on January 16.

He worked there for a militant group, also called ISIS, ISIL and Daesh, after which he gave himself up to the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, with whom he stayed for a month.

"I made a bad decision to go to Mosul. At the time I made the decision, I was not thinking straight. On the way there I regretted, and I wanted to go back home after things didn't work out and saw myself living in such an environment," he said in an interview to kurdistan24.

He could stay on in Mosul only for a month. "It is not like Western countries. It is very strict and no smoking there," he said. Most of the foreign fighters were from central and southern Asia.

"I found it very, very hard to live there," Khweis said. "I found someone who could take me back to Turkey. First he told me that he will take me, but then he said it will be difficult to take me all the way to Turkey. [Later] he told me he will take me near Turkey's border."

The Kurdish forces encountered him Monday near Sinjar "for attempting to enter the Kurdistan region from the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul."

"We are in dialogue with our U.S. counterparts and authorities about the individual and case," the Kurdish council said. "He is in the Kurdistan region being questioned by relevant security authorities and is provided the care afforded to him under international and local law."

While the State Department revealed that it is aware of his reported surrender, it is not known whether the US will take custody.