A pair of photos posted on Facebook from the Iraqi Ministry of Defense shows what may be the first case of an ethnic Han Chinese national fighting for the cause of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.

The man was captured by the Iraqi Army. In one photo, the young man is shown unconscious and lying on the ground. In the other, he is in the hands of an Iraqi soldier. The photos were released Wednesday, local time.

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A short description of the man in the photos said he was a "Chinese daash," daash being another acronym for ISIS. The man had been severely beaten across the face, obscuring his features. It was clear that he is Asian, but such facial morphology can be found in a broad swath of ethnicities ranging from the Caspian Sea to Japan and on into Siberia. It was impossible to identify the prisoner as Chinese based solely on his looks.

The Chinese embassy in Iraq declined to comment on the photos, and the man's ethnicity and identity have not yet been confirmed. A video emerged on YouTube last year of a man with Pacific Asian features identified himself as "Bo Wang" and declaring he had joined ISIS, but it is not known if the captured soldier is Bo.

Although ISIS is a Sunni Arab movement, it is well-known that their ranks are bolstered by members from other nations, including the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. It is thought that up to 100 Uighurs from the restive Chinese province of Xinjiang are fighting for the Islamic State.

"Jihadi John," the ISIS fighter purported to be the killer of American journalist James Foley, is thought to be English.

In a July speech, ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi decried the loss of Muslim rights across the world, singling out Israel, India, and China.

TagsHan Chinese, ISIS, Obama, Iraq, war, Obama