ISIS member, an American citizen, surrenders in Iraq

March 14, 2016: This image made from video posted on Twitter by a Kurdish fighter shows a man that the Kurdish military says is an American member of the Islamic State group shortly after he turned himself in to Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq. (AP)

A Palestinian-American member of the Islamic State terror group has surrendered to an Iraqi Kurdish military unit in northern Iraq, a Kurdish general said Monday.

The individual was identified as Mohammed Jamal Amin, 27, from Virginia, a source in the Peshmerga forces told Fox News. Amin was born in Virginia to a Palestinian father and Iraqi mother from Mosul, the Turkish news agency Rudaw reported.

Maj. Gen. Feisal Helkani told The Associated Press that Amin surrendered on Monday morning at an inspection point near the town of Sinjar, which was retaken by Iraqi forces from ISIS militants late last year.

Helkani said Amin had been "lurking near the peshmerga lines" since late Sunday night, and his troops first tried to shoot him, assuming he was a would-be suicide bomber.

"Then in the morning, he walked across and gave himself up," Helkani added.

Helkani said Amin was carrying with him a large amount of cash, three cellphones and three forms of identification, including a United States driver's license. He is currently being held by the peshmerga troops for interrogation.

Amin had mistaken Peshmerga territory for the Turkish border, a Peshmerga commander told Rudaw. The commander added that Amin had entered Syria from Turkey two months ago and traveled to Mosul in Iraq.

In neighboring Syria, meanwhile, Syrian Kurdish fighters battling the Islamic State have told The Associated Press that they are seeing an increase in the number of ISIS members surrendering following recent territorial losses.

Iraqi forces have struggled to retake ground from the Islamic State, which despite a series of territorial losses in Iraq and Syria in the past six months, still controls large swaths of land in both countries.

In Iraq, ISIS has claimed responsibility for a series of suicide attacks that have killed more than 170 people over the past few weeks. Iraqi officials also say the group has launched a number of chemical weapons attacks.

Local officials in the town of Taza in Iraq's north say a recent attack injured more than 600 people. The attacks follow a string of advances by Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, including in the western city of Ramadi, which was declared fully "liberated" by Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition officials last month.

The extremist group also controls Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, as well as the city of Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad.

Fox News' Greg Palkot and The Associated Press contributed to this report.