The Derunta training camp (also transliterated as Darunta) was one of the most well-known of many military training camps

Afghan training camp

An Afghan training camp is a camp or facility used for militant training located in pre-2002 Afghanistan. At the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Indian intelligence officials estimated that there were over 120 training camps operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan, run by a variety of...

 that have been alleged to have been affiliated with al Qaeda.

Training with poisons

CNN

CNN

Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

 published a story in which they claimed to have acquired videotapes showing al Qaeda experiments poisoning dogs with chemical weapons, at Derunta.

Location

The camp is reported to have been near Jalalabad

Jalalabad

Jalalabad , formerly called Adinapour, as documented by the 7th century Hsüan-tsang, is a city in eastern Afghanistan. Located at the junction of the Kabul River and Kunar River near the Laghman valley, Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province. It is linked by approximately of highway with...

.
According to The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

, it was 15 miles from Jalalabad

Jalalabad

Jalalabad , formerly called Adinapour, as documented by the 7th century Hsüan-tsang, is a city in eastern Afghanistan. Located at the junction of the Kabul River and Kunar River near the Laghman valley, Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province. It is linked by approximately of highway with...

, just north of the village of Darūntah

Daruntah

Darūntah is a village in Jalalabad District of Nangarhar province. It is located next to Jalalabad city on route AO1 in Afghanistan.It gave its name to the Derunta training camp located north of the village, across the Darunta Dam....

 across the dam (coordinates: 34° 28' 44" North, 70° 21' 44" East).
According to a paper by Hekmat Karzai

Hekmat Karzai

Hekmat Karzai is a citizen of Afghanistan who is a former academic, former diplomat, and is the founder and director of Afghanistan's Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies....

, published by the Pentagon
the camp was really a complex of four camps, eight miles from Jalalabad.
Karzai wrote that the four camps were:

Abu Khabab camp	includes an explosives depot;
Assadalah Abdul Rahman camp	operated by Assadalah Abdul Rahman -- "the son of blind cleric Omar Abdel Rahman"
Hizbi Islami Camp	"operated by a group of Pakistani extremists fighting in Kashmir"
Taliban camp	"where religious militia were trained and indoctrinated to fight the Northern Alliance."

The CIA provided intelligence, pinpointing Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...

's presence, that enabled Northern Alliance allies to bombard him in at the Derunta camp in 1999.

The documents from some Guantanamo captives, such as Abbas Habid Rumi Al Naely

Abbas Habid Rumi Al Naely

Abbas Habid Rumi Al Naely is a citizen of Iraq, who was held for more than six years in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.Al Naely's Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 758.-Witness for detainee 433:...

,
state that the Khalden training camp

Khalden training camp

The Khalden training camp was a military training camp in Afghanistan. According to the documentary Son of al Qaeda there were hundreds of military training camps in Afghanistan which were tied to al Qaeda...

 was also located in Darwanta.

Dispute over whether Derunta was an al Qaeda camp

During his Administrative Review Board

Administrative Review Board

The Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the suspects held by the United States in Camp Delta in the United States Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba....

 Abdul Bin Mohammed Bin Abess Ourgy

Abdul Bin Mohammed Bin Abess Ourgy

Abdul Bin Mohammed Bin Abess Ourgy is a citizen of Tunisia, currently held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.The Department of Defense reports that Ourgy was born on July 25, 1965, in Tunis, Tunisia....

acknowledged attending the Derunta camp, but he disputed that it was affiliated with al-Qaeda.
He asserted that the Derunta camp was a non-al Qaeda camp, that dated back to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, that it was originally run by the Hezbi Islami

Hezbi Islami

Hezbi Islami , meaning Islamic Party is an Islamist organization commonly known for fighting in the Marxist Government of Afghanistan and their close ally the Soviet Union. Founded and led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, it was established in Pakistan in 1975...

, and that after his attendance there the Derunta camp was one of the many non-al Qaeda camps that the Taliban shut down at al Qaeda's request.

Other Guantanamo captives have reported that the similarly well-known Khalden training camp

Khalden training camp

The Khalden training camp was a military training camp in Afghanistan. According to the documentary Son of al Qaeda there were hundreds of military training camps in Afghanistan which were tied to al Qaeda...

 was not an al-Qaeda camp, and was shut down in 2000,
at Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...

's request.

Alleged attendees

Individuals alleged to have attended the Derunta camp

Nabil Aukal	Attended in 1997 with four other members of Hamas Hamas Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
Moazzam Begg Moazzam Begg Moazzam Begg , is a British Pakistani Muslim who was held in extrajudicial detention in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba, by the U.S...	Alleged by DoD officials to have attended in 1998. Leaked files reveal that the DoD had secretly concluded Begg had been an instructor at Derunta.
Menad Benchellali Menad Benchellali Menad Benchellali is a suspected terrorist arrested in France on January 6, 2004.Benchellali is alleged to have been an al Qaeda chemical weapons specialist.Benchellali is alleged to have attended the derunta training camp in Afghanistan....	Alleged to be a "chemical weapons" specialist
Abdul Haddi Bin Hadiddi Abdul Haddi Bin Hadiddi Abdul Haddi Bin Hadiddi is a citizen of Tunisia currently held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.The Department of Defense reports that he was born on March 18, 1969, in Bir'Alash, Tunisia and assigned him the Internment Serial Number 717.As of August 13, 2011, Abdul...	The detainee reportedly received military training on the use of light arms in the Derunta Camp in Jalalabad Jalalabad Jalalabad , formerly called Adinapour, as documented by the 7th century Hsüan-tsang, is a city in eastern Afghanistan. Located at the junction of the Kabul River and Kunar River near the Laghman valley, Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province. It is linked by approximately of highway with... , Afghanistan.
Riyad Bil Mohammed Tahir Nasseri Riyad Bil Mohammed Tahir Nasseri -Testimony:There is no record that Riyad Bin Mohammed Tahir Nasseriparticipated in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.-Administrative Review Board hearings:...	Alleged to have attended both Khalden and Derunta.
Ahmed Ressam Ahmed Ressam Ahmed Ressam is an Algerian al-Qaeda member who lived in Montreal, Canada.He was convicted of attempting to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve 1999, as part of the foiled 2000 millennium attack plots...	The "millennium bomber"; admitted that he trained how to manufacture advanced explosives and make electronic circuits for six weeks at the camp.
Hisham Sliti Hisham Sliti Hisham Sliti, a Tunisian, is currently being held as an enemy combatant in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.The list of the names of all the Guantanamo detainees states that his date of birth was February 12, 1966, in Hamam Lif, TunisiaAs of Aug...	Alleged to have attended both the Khalden training camp Khalden training camp The Khalden training camp was a military training camp in Afghanistan. According to the documentary Son of al Qaeda there were hundreds of military training camps in Afghanistan which were tied to al Qaeda...  and Derunta.
Saed Khatem Al Malki Saed Khatem Al Malki -Saed Farhan Al-Maliki v. George W. Bush:Saed Farhan Al-Maliki had a writ of habeas corpus filed on its behalf, Saed Farhan Al-Maliki v. George W. Bush....	During his Administrative Review Board Administrative Review Board The Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the suspects held by the United States in Camp Delta in the United States Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba....  Saed Khatem Al Malki faced the allegations a: The detainee may have been involved in a November 1995 bomb attack on the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad. He then escaped to the Shamshad and Deruntah camps in Afghanistan the day of the attack. The Deruntah training camp has a poisons course that lasts approximately two weeks and teaches students how to poison food and drinks.
Abdul Bin Mohammed Bin Abess Ourgy Abdul Bin Mohammed Bin Abess Ourgy Abdul Bin Mohammed Bin Abess Ourgy is a citizen of Tunisia, currently held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.The Department of Defense reports that Ourgy was born on July 25, 1965, in Tunis, Tunisia....	During both his Combatant Status Review Tribunal Combatant Status Review Tribunal The Combatant Status Review Tribunals were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were established July 7, 2004 by order of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense...  and Administrative Review Board Administrative Review Board The Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the suspects held by the United States in Camp Delta in the United States Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.... Abdul Bin Mohammed Bin Abess Ourgy Abdul Bin Mohammed Bin Abess Ourgy Abdul Bin Mohammed Bin Abess Ourgy is a citizen of Tunisia, currently held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.The Department of Defense reports that Ourgy was born on July 25, 1965, in Tunis, Tunisia.... faced the allegations: The Detainee is a Tunisian national who traveled to Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...  then to Afghanistan Afghanistan Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...  where he received training at the Derunta military camp. Derunta is an Al-Qaida military training camp. The Detainee spent 28 days at the camp where he participated in Kalashnikov AK-47 The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...  rifle, pistol, RPG Rocket propelled grenade A rocket-propelled grenade is a shoulder-fired, anti-tank weapon system which fires rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. These warheads are affixed to a rocket motor and stabilized in flight with fins. Some types of RPG are reloadable while others are single-use. RPGs, with the exception of... , and grenade Hand grenade A hand grenade is any small bomb that can be thrown by hand. Hand grenades are classified into three categories, explosive grenades, chemical and gas grenades. Explosive grenades are the most commonly used in modern warfare, and are designed to detonate after impact or after a set amount of time...  training.
Hisham Sliti Hisham Sliti Hisham Sliti, a Tunisian, is currently being held as an enemy combatant in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.The list of the names of all the Guantanamo detainees states that his date of birth was February 12, 1966, in Hamam Lif, TunisiaAs of Aug...	Hisham Sliti faced the allegation: "The detainee received training on the use of light arms at the Khaldan Camp near the Khowst  Province , and the Derunta Camp in Jalalabad Jalalabad Jalalabad , formerly called Adinapour, as documented by the 7th century Hsüan-tsang, is a city in eastern Afghanistan. Located at the junction of the Kabul River and Kunar River near the Laghman valley, Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province. It is linked by approximately of highway with... ".
Abdul Haddi Bin Hadiddi Abdul Haddi Bin Hadiddi Abdul Haddi Bin Hadiddi is a citizen of Tunisia currently held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.The Department of Defense reports that he was born on March 18, 1969, in Bir'Alash, Tunisia and assigned him the Internment Serial Number 717.As of August 13, 2011, Abdul...	Abdul Haddi Bin Hadiddi faced the allegation: "The detainee reportedly received military training on the use of light arms in the Derunta Camp in Jalalabad Jalalabad Jalalabad , formerly called Adinapour, as documented by the 7th century Hsüan-tsang, is a city in eastern Afghanistan. Located at the junction of the Kabul River and Kunar River near the Laghman valley, Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province. It is linked by approximately of highway with... , Afghanistan."
Riyad Bil Mohammed Tahir Nasseri Riyad Bil Mohammed Tahir Nasseri -Testimony:There is no record that Riyad Bin Mohammed Tahir Nasseriparticipated in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.-Administrative Review Board hearings:...	Riyad Bil Mohammed Tahir Nasseri faced the following allegations during his Administrative Review Board Administrative Review Board The Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the suspects held by the United States in Camp Delta in the United States Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.... : The detainee received military training at the Derunta camp in Jalalabad Jalalabad Jalalabad , formerly called Adinapour, as documented by the 7th century Hsüan-tsang, is a city in eastern Afghanistan. Located at the junction of the Kabul River and Kunar River near the Laghman valley, Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province. It is linked by approximately of highway with... , Afghanistan and Khaldan camp Khalden training camp The Khalden training camp was a military training camp in Afghanistan. According to the documentary Son of al Qaeda there were hundreds of military training camps in Afghanistan which were tied to al Qaeda...  near Khowst, Afghanistan. The detainee received training on light arms while at the camps. Derunta was one of Usama bin Laden's most important bases in Afghanistan. The camp provided training in the use of explosives and toxic chemical usage. Derunta also contained several secondary bases belonging to Usama bin Laden.
Sada Jan Sada Jan Syed Ajan or Sada Jan is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 1035....	Sada Jan was asked about the Derunta camp, during his Combatant Status Review Tribunal Combatant Status Review Tribunal The Combatant Status Review Tribunals were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were established July 7, 2004 by order of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense... , even though it was not listed in the allegations on his Summary of Evidence memo Summary of Evidence (CSRT) Counter-terrorism analysts prepared a Summary of Evidence memo for the Combatant Status Review Tribunals of the 558 captives who remained in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba in the fall of 2004.-The 2005 release:... .