Moner Mohammad Abu Salha (Arabic: منير محمد أبو صالحة; also written Munir Mohammed Abou Saleha; October 28, 1991 – May 25, 2014), also known by the nom de guerre (kunya) Abu Hurayra al-Amriki (Arabic: أبو هريرة الأمريكي), was an American Islamist militant for the al-Nusra Front. At the age of 22, he became the first known American suicide bomber to die in the Syrian civil war.[2] He produced a video describing his motivation to die on behalf of the al-Nusra Front.[3][4]
Biography
Abu Salha was raised in Vero Beach, Florida, as the second eldest of four children. His father was born in Jordan[5][6] to SunniPalestinian parents and operated several grocery store franchises in Central Florida. His mother, an Italian-American, was a housewife and converted to Islam after marrying her husband.[6] The family lived in Lakes at Sandridge gated community.[7] Abu Salha was described as a "normal boy", playing on the local basketball team during his teens. He had only been noted for a brief suspension from school after he got into a fight with fellow students who had made fun of the way Abu Salha's mother dressed.[8]
On May 25, 2014, Abu Salha drove a truck bomb filled with 16 tons of explosives into a restaurant in Ariha, killing himself and several Syrian government troops, It was one of four suicide attacks in the area that day.[2][13]
Connection to Omar Mateen
Abu Salha's name later came up as a contact in an unsuccessful 2014 investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The subject of that investigation was Omar Mateen, who would later commit the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting.[14] The investigation was motivated "because Abu-Salha and Mateen attended the same mosque,"[15] law-enforcement officials told The Wall Street Journal. During the shooting, Mateen told a 9-1-1 operator that the shooting was inspired by Abu Salha.[16] In the video published by al-Nusra, Abu Salha said that he was being watched by the FBI before he left for Syria, and that he moved to stay with friends in the state of Florida in order to throw the FBI off track and make them believe he was in the United States after he had left.[17] Both Abu Salha and Mateen lived in Fort Pierce, Florida.[18]
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Barrett, Devlin; Entous, Adam; Cullison, Alan (June 12, 2016). "FBI Twice Probed Orlando Gunman". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on June 20, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2016. Law-enforcement officials said that investigation was prompted because Abu-Salha and Mateen attended the same mosque.
