Top News Article | Reuters.com

Top News Article | Reuters.com: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Omar al-Faruq, one of al Qaeda's most senior global operatives, escaped from an American military prison in Afghanistan in July, a U.S. defense official said on Wednesday.

The official, who asked not to be identified, confirmed to Reuters that the Kuwaiti, who was captured in Indonesia in 2002 and turned over to the United States, was among four prisoners who escaped from heavily fortified Bagram Air Base prison in July. He remains at large.

The official did not explain why the United States did not state that Faruq was among the four who escaped until pressed by lawyers at a military trial in Texas this week. At the time of his capture in Indonesia in June 2002, Faruq was al Qaeda's most senior operative in Southeast Asia, according to intelligence officials.

'I think we can confirm that he escaped,' said the defense official.

Faruq's disappearance did not come to light until defense attorneys for a U.S. soldier on trial in Texas on charges of abusing detainees in Afghanistan demanded on Tuesday to know where the al Qaeda operative was so that he could testify at the trial."