Iran refugee in US died fighting for Islamic State

Court documents show Adnan Fazeli, 38, was killed in January 2015 in clashes with Lebanese army

By AP 16 August 2016, 10:24 pm

Edit

File: Lebanese Army reinforcements arrive at the outskirts of Arsal, a predominantly Sunni Muslim town near the Syrian border in eastern Lebanon, August 4, 2014. (AP/Bilal Hussein/File)

FREEPORT, Maine — Investigators say an Iranian Muslim man who came to Maine as a refugee in 2009 was fighting for the Islamic State group when he was killed last year in Lebanon.

The Portland Press Herald reports that details about 38-year-old Adnan Fazeli were in newly unsealed court documents filed in federal court in Portland.

The newspaper reports Fazeli, who was most recently a Freeport resident, became radicalized while living in Maine.

Fazeli came under FBI investigation for his connection to Islamic State shortly after leaving his job at a Portland auto dealer and flying to Turkey in August 2013. He never came back.

Fazeli died in battle in January 2015 as a member of an Islamic State force of about 150. The group was turned away by the Lebanese army.