Higher educationManchester student arrested in Iraq
A Manchester University student has been arrested in northern Iraq while allegedly attempting to join a radical Islamic guerilla group believed to be linked with al-Qaida.
Urslaan Khan, 21, from Yarm, near Middlesbrough, was discovered last month traveling with a British passport through the mountains of northern Iraq.
He was detained by American military officials who questioned him about his movements in Iraq.
Mr Khan is thought to be the first Briton to be arrested in Iraq for allegedly being linked to groups in combat with the coalition troops.
The Times newspaper reported that Saba Rhader Kerem, a spokesman for the Kurdish forces who arrested Mr Khan, said "He had his British passport with him but he could not give a reason for being here. A routine patrol stopped him about four weeks ago.
"He was travelling with another man who says he did not know him. We have been interrogating him for a long time now and we believe he travelled to Iraq to join Ansar al-Islam, a terrorist group fighting the coalition forces."
It is believed Mr Khan has not been charged.
Today, a spokesman for Manchester University confirmed that Mr Khan was an Arabic studies student in its department of Middle Eastern studies and that he was spending his third year at the University of Alexandria in Egypt studying Arabic.
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