A Taliban detainee held by U.S. forces in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is a U.S. citizen.

The man, identified as Yasser Esam Hamdi, is the second American citizen -- the other is John Walker Lindh, now in U.S. civilian custody -- captured in Afghanistan alongside Taliban and al Qaeda fighters last fall.

The detainee's parents were Saudi nationals employed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where Hamdi was born, the official said. The family moved back to Saudi Arabia when the detainee was a toddler.

According to a defense official, the prisoner has claimed that he was born in Baton Rouge since his capture and has a birth certificate.