Derna, Libya
According to "The Wall Street Journal", al-Hasidi spent five years in an Afghan training camp. In 2002, al-Hasidi was captured in Peshwar, Pakistan, and was later handed to US forces. He was subsequently held in Libya before his release in 2008. In March 2011, as reported by the Italian newspaper "Il Sole 24 Ore", al-Hasidi stated that he had fought against "the foreign invasion" of Afghanistan. In the same interview, al-Hasidi said that his fighters had ties with the militant Islamist al-Qaeda organisation. During the Libyan civil war, al-Hasidi commanded the Abu Salim Martyrs Brigade which consisted of 300 recruits from Derna, Libya.