Sarajevo, 29 July (AKI) – A convicted Tunisian former 'mujahideen' who fought on the side of local Muslims during the 1990s Bosnian war, has escaped from a Bosnian jail, local media reported on Wednesday. Karaj Kamel Bin Ali, known as 'Abu Hamza', didn't return to prison after he was granted a week's leave, Bosnian television reports said.

At the time of his escape from prison in the central Bosnian city of Zenica, Bin Ali had served a third of a seven-year jail sentence for assault and racketeering. He previously served seven years in jail for the murder of another Arab man.

Bin Ali was suspected of involvement in terrorist activities in Bosnia and Italy. He was to be extradited to Tunisia in early January, where he has been sentenced to 12 years in jail.

He was among many hundreds of so-called 'mujahideen' who fought against Serb forces during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. After the war, Bin Ali and many other former fighters acquired Bosnian citizenship and married locally.

Hamza had been sentenced to twelve years in jail in Tunis and has been described by Bosnian authorities as a “threat to national security” because of his ties to terrorist organisations, the television said.

Many of the militants have remained in Bosnia after the war, marrying local women. Bosnian authorities have revoked about 400 citizenships granted to former militants because of their alleged ties to terrorist organisations.

Western intelligence sources have reported that many former fighters have been indoctrinating local youths to radical Islam and even operating terrorist training camps in Bosnia.

Hamza was the first former foreign Muslim fighter to have escaped from a Bosnian jail, the television said.