Washington, Nov. 2 (Reuters): Omar al-Faruq, one of al Qaida’s most senior global operatives, escaped from an American military prison in Afghanistan in July, a US defence official said today.

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 US, 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 US 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 Qaida’s most senior operative in southeast Asia, according to intelligence officials. “I think we can confirm that he escaped,” said the official.

Faruq’s disappearance did not come to light until defence attorneys for a US soldier on trial in Texas on charges of abusing detainees in Afghanistan demanded yesterday to know where the al Qaida operative was so that he could testify at the trial. Faruq was sent to southeast Asia in 1998 by Osama bin Laden to expand al Qaida’s operations in the region.