Suicide bomber’s life in Florida detailed

VERO BEACH, Fla. — The man who launched a suicide bombing against Syrian government troops grew up in central Florida and attended several colleges in the state before dropping out and moving abroad.

U.S. officials identified the bomber as 22-year-old Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha but have said little else.

Records show a person with that name lived with his family in a two-story stucco home in a gated community plunked among the orange groves on the edge of Vero Beach.

Cynthia Heinz, a former member of the neighborhood homeowners association in the Vero Beach community, said the family had moved twice within the neighborhood since they lost their home to foreclosure a few years back. She said Michelle Abu-Salha, the mother, who dressed conservatively in a traditional hijab, was always friendly, as was her teenage daughter, who went to school with Heinz’s son. Heinz said she had less contact with Abu-Salha’s father.

Abu-Salha’s former Vero Beach neighbor Bill Miller told The Washington Post that his son used to play basketball with Abu-Salha, and that Abu-Salha was once suspended from school for fighting after boys made fun of his mother’s clothing.

Seminole State College of Florida confirmed in a statement that Abu-Salha enrolled in the school in August 2011 but never graduated and that he previously attended Keiser University and Indian River State College.

The fighting between Syrian troops and opposition forces seeking the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad has killed at least 160,000 people.

Opposition forces had identified the man who carried out a May 25 truck bombing outside a restaurant in the governmentheld northwestern city of Idlib as Abu Hurayra al-Amriki and said he was a U.S. citizen. The name al-Amriki means “the American.”

Asaad Kanjo, an opposition activist based in the town of Saraqeb in Idlib province, said he heard that Abu-Salha arrived in Syria a few months ago and tore up his American passport upon arrival.

Kanjo said that even a local commander with the Nusra Front was surprised about AbuSalha. Kanjo said the commander remarked that many people try hard to get an American passport, and this man arrived and got rid of his.