US man held as terrorist in Yemen moved there 2 years ago, says man who knew him in Del.

US man held as terrorist had been in Yemen 2 years

BUENA, N.J. — A former neighbor says a U.S. citizen who is being held as a terrorist in Yemen and is accused of a hospital shootout there moved to the Middle East about two years ago.

Imam Abdel-Hadi Shehata of the Islamic Society of Delaware says Sharif Mobley used to live one floor below him in an apartment complex in Newark, Del., and occasionally worshipped at the society’s mosque.

The imam says Mobley never talked about politics or religious beliefs with him. He says Mobley moved to Yemen to learn Arabic and about Islam.

The 26-year-old Mobley grew up in the southern New Jersey town of Buena (BYOO’-nah). Authorities say he killed one guard and wounded another in an attempt to escape a Yemeni hospital last weekend.