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Darunta training camp

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Surveillance photo of the Derunta training camp after U.S. bombardment.
Daruntah, Kabul, Peshawar, and some cities in Nangarhar, Afghanistan.
File:Darunta Camp.jpg
Image of the camp that ran with CNN

The Derunta training camp (also transliterated as Darunta) was one of the most well-known of many military training camps that have been alleged to have been affiliated with al Qaeda.


Training with poisons

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CNN published a story in which they claimed to have acquired videotapes showing al Qaeda experiments poisoning dogs with chemical weapons, at Derunta.[1]

Location

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It was fifteen miles from Jalalabad, just north of the village of Darūntah across the dam.[2]

The CIA provided intelligence, pinpointing Osama bin Laden's presence, that enabled Northern Alliance allies to bombard him in at the Derunta camp in 1999.[3]

Administration

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Some sources claim the director of the camp was Midhat Mursi.[4]

Dispute over whether Derunta was an al Qaeda camp

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During his Administrative Review Board Abdul Bin Mohammed Bin Abess Ourgy acknowledged attending the Derunta camp, but he disputed that it was affiliated with al Qaeda.[5][6] He asserted that the Derunta camp was a non-al Qaeda camp, that dated back to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, that it was originally run by the Hezbi Islami, and that after his attendance there the Derunta camp was one of the many non-al Qaeda camps that Taliban shut down at al Qaeda's request.

Other Guantanamo captives have reported that the similarly well-known Khalden training camp was not an al-Qaeda camp, and was shut down in 2000, at Osama bin Laden's request.

Alleged attendees

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Individuals alleged to have attended the Derunta camp
Ahmed Ressam[7] a "millennium bomber"
Nabil Aukal

attended in 1997 with four other members of Hamas[8]

Menad Benchellali> An Al Qaeda 'Chemist' and the Quest for Ricin, Middle East Info, May 5 2004</ref> alleged to be a "chemical weapons" specialist[9]
Moazzam Begg[10] alleged to have attended in 1998
Hisham Sliti[11] Alleged to have attended both the Khalden training camp and Derunta.
Abdul Haddi Bin Hadiddi[12] The detainee reportedly received military training on the use of light arms in the Derunta Camp in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
Riyad Bil Mohammed Tahir Nasseri Alleged to have attended both Khalden and Derunta.[13]
Saed Khatem Al Malki

During his Administrative Review Board Saed Khatem Al Malki faced the allegations[14]:

  • The detainee may have been involved in a November 1995 bomb attack on the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad. He then escaped to the Shamshad and Deruntah camps in Afghanistan the day of the attack.
  • The Deruntah training camp has a poisons course that lasts approximately two weeks and teaches students how to poison food and drinks.
Abdul Bin Mohammed Bin Abess Ourgy

During both his Combatant Status Review Tribunal and Administrative Review Board Abdul Bin Mohammed Bin Abess Ourgy faced the allegations[6]:

Hisham Sliti
Abdul Haddi Bin Hadiddi
  • Abdul Haddi Bin Hadiddi faced the allegation: "The detainee reportedly received military training on the use of light arms in the Derunta Camp in Jalalabad, Afghanistan."[12]
Riyad Bil Mohammed Tahir Nasseri
  • Riyad Bil Mohammed Tahir Nasseri faced the following allegations during his Administrative Review Board[15]:
    • The detainee received military training at the Derunta camp in Jalalabad, Afghanistan and Khaldan camp near Khowst, Afghanistan.
    • The detainee received training on light arms while at the camps.
    • Derunta was one of Usama bin Laden's [sic] most important bases in Afghanistan. The camp provided training in the use of explosives and toxic chemical usage. Derunta also contained several secondary bases belonging to Usama bin Laden.
Sada Jan

References

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  1. ↑ Nic Robertson (2002-08-19). "Disturbing scenes of death show capability with chemical gas". CNN. Archived from the original on 2007-11-28. Al Qaeda documents examined by CNN last fall in the bombed out ruins of the Darunta camp showed chemical formulas for sarin. Other documents connect the Darunta camp, a series of mud and stone buildings, to chemical testing.
  2. ↑ Paul Harris; Jason Burke (2001-11-18). "Focus special: Al-Qaeda's trail of terror". The Guardian.
  3. ↑ "Summary of Evidence memo prepared for Abbas Habid Rumi Al Naely's Combatant Status Review Tribunal" (PDF). OARDEC. 2004-10-25. p. 65. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-03-09. Cite error: Invalid parameter "the" in <ref> tag. The supported parameters are: dir, follow, group, name.
  4. ↑ "WANTED: Midhat Mursi al-Sayid 'Umar - Up to $5 Million Reward". Rewards for Justice. 1953-04-29. Archived from the original on 2006-09-13. He operated a terrorist training camp at Derunta, Afghanistan where he provided hundreds of mujahidin with hands on poisons and explosives training. Since 1999, he has proliferated training manuals that contain recipes for crude chemical and biological weapons. Some of these training manuals were recovered by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
  5. ↑ "Summarized transcripts, from Abdul Bin Mohammed Bin Abess Ourgy's Combatant Status Review Tribunal" (PDF). OARDEC. pp. 34–42. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-27.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Factors for and against the continued detention of Abdul Bin Mohammed Bin Abess Ourgy -- May 2, 2005 " (PDF). OARDEC. p. 48. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-03-09.
  7. ↑ Al-Qaeda - a meaningless label, The Guardian, January 12 2003
  8. ↑ Matthew Levitt (2004-03-26). "Matthew Levitt on Hamas on National Review Online". National Review. Archived from the original on 2007-08-24. Retrieved 2026-02-22. Yassin is also directly tied to the one documented case of operational crossover between Hamas and al Qaeda. In 1997 a group of five Hamas dawa activists traveled to Pakistan for religious training. One of them, Nabil Aukal, was recruited by a Palestinian jihadist for military training, first in an al-Ansar camp in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir and then in al Qaeda's Derunta training camp in Afghanistan.
  9. ↑ Joby Warrick (2004-05-05). "An Al Qaeda 'Chemist' and the Quest for Ricin". Middle East Info. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. U.S. officials believe Menad Benchellali may have received advanced training at al Qaeda's Derunta camp, near the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. The camp housed one of al Qaeda's labs and a school for a select group of recruits who studied the use of toxic chemicals and biological toxins, including ricin, U.S. intelligence sources say.
  10. ↑ Jihadist or Victim: Ex-Detainee Makes a Case, The New York Times, June 15 2006
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Summary of Evidence memo prepared for Hisham Sliti's Combatant Status Review Tribunal" (PDF). OARDEC. 2004-10-25. p. 62. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-03-09.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Summary of Evidence memo prepared for Abdul Haddi Bin Hadiddi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal" (PDF). OARDEC. 2004-10-13. p. 53. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-03-09.
  13. ↑ "Summary of Evidence memo prepared for Riyad Bil Mohammed Tahir Nasseri's Combatant Status Review Tribunal" (PDF). OARDEC. 2004-10-21. p. 148. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-03-09.
  14. ↑ "Summarized transcript from Saed Khatem Al Malki's Administrative Review Board hearing" (PDF). OARDEC. p. 180. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-27.
  15. ↑ Factors for and against the continued detention (.pdf) of Riyad Bil Mohammed Tahir Nasseri Administrative Review Board, April 27 2005 - page 5
  16. ↑ Abuse testimony (.pdf), from Sada Jan's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - page 2
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