Muhammad Jamal Amin, ISIS Defector From US, Surrenders

Muhammad Jamal Amin, 27, a suspected American ISIS defector from Virginia, is being held in northern Iraq by Kurdish officials after he emerged from Islamic State-held territory, CNN reported on Monday.

A U.S. official told CNN the American walked out of land controlled by ISIS in Iraq and approached Kurdish troops in Gulat, near Sinjar. Soldiers, believing the might have been a suicide bomber, had fired warning shots at him before he indicated that he was surrendering.

CBS News identified the man as Amin, 27. Kurdish television reported that Amin was being held in Erbil, which has a sizable U.S. military presence.

About a dozen American citizens have traveled to Iraq and Syria to fight for the Islamic State, it's believed, U.S. intelligence officials told CBS News. Amin had said his father is Palestinian and his mother is from Mosul in Iraq.

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has not confirmed the detention of an American so far, according to CBS News.

"We are in touch with Iraqi and Kurdish authorities to determine the veracity of these reports," a state department official in Washington told Reuters.

FBI director James Comey said in written testimony last year to the Senate Intelligence Committee that upwards of 200 Americans have tried to join the fight in Iraq and Syria on the side of the Islamic State, according to The Hill.

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