Kurdish authorities are holding an American citizen who emerged from ISIS territory, a Kurdish official told CNN on Monday.
Reports indicate the man was allegedly fighting for ISIS, a U.S. State Department official said, speaking on background.
According to a U.S. official, the man came walking out of ISIS-held territory in Iraq and approached troops near the Iraqi town of Gulat, near Sinjar.
The soldiers thought he might be a suicide bomber and fired some shots before the man indicated he wanted to turn himself in, according to the U.S. official.
In a video that appears to capture the moment of surrender, the man appears to say that his father is Palestinian and his mother is an Iraqi but that he holds U.S. citizenship.
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s security council is investigating, the Kurdish official said. The Kurdish government is in charge of an autonomous region in northern Iraq.
The State Department is in touch with Iraqi and Kurdish authorities to determine whether the reports are valid, the agency official said.
