KABUL, Afghanistan -- NATO and Afghan forces killed a former Guantánamo detainee who had become a key al-Qaida affiliate after returning to Afghanistan, officials said Saturday.

Sabar Lal Melma, 49, who was released from Guantánamo in 2007 after five years of detention during a period of Bush administration era downsizing of the prison camps population. He went on to organize attacks in eastern Kunar province and fund insurgent operations, NATO spokesman Capt. Justin Brockhoff said.

A NATO statement described Melma as a “key affiliate of the al-Qaida network” who was in contact with senior al-Qaida members in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Troops surrounded Melma’s house in Jalalabad city on Friday night and shot him dead when he emerged from the building holding an AK-47 assault rifle. Several other people were detained.

A guard at the house, Mohammad Gul, said a group of American soldiers scaled the walls of the compound around 11 p.m. and stormed the house, shooting Melma in the assault. Three others were detained, Gul said.

About 600 Guantánamo detainees have been released from custody or transferred to prisons elsewhere in the world. In 2009, the Pentagon said 61 detainees, or approximately 11 percent, released from Guantánamo had rejoined the fight. Experts have questioned the veracity of that number.

Melma was captured in August 2002 while attending a meeting with U.S. military officials in Asadabad and transferred to the U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay in October that same year. He was suspected of helping carry out rocket attacks against U.S. troops.

He was sent back to Afghanistan in September 2007. A June 2005 U.S. military intelligence threat assessment concluded that the captive posed a “medium risk” to “to the U.S., its interests and allies” and recommended that he be transferred to a prison or jail in his native Afghanistan.

At Guantánamo, the captive had a history of misbehaving “and harassing the guards,” according to the analysis obtained by McClatchy Newspapers from the anti-secrecy group Wiki Leaks. It also noted he had latent tuberculosis and an allergy to black pepper.

“He seems to side with any group or organization that is willing to pay or reward him for his cooperation, from coalition forces to Arabs fleeing Afghanistan,” said the report signed by then detention center commander Army Brig. Gen. Jay Hood.

Hood also said: “He does not seem to have any loyalty to any particular group and had reportedly been at odds with the Taliban for at least five years.”

After the fall of the Taliban he was reportedly was given the rank of brigadier general and placed in charge of approximately 600 border security troops in Konar province. While imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay, the U.S. determined he was a “probable facilitator for Al-Qaida members” and was also thought to have links to Pakistan’s intelligence service.

NATO said in a statement that coalition forces have captured or killed more than 40 al-Qaida insurgents in eastern Afghanistan this year.

In June 2010, then CIA Director Leon Panetta said only 50 to 100 al-Qaida operatives continued to operate inside Afghanistan. It’s not clear if Panetta was referring to commanders or foot soldiers.

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Associated Press Rahim Faiez, Heidi Vogt and Adam Goldman contributed to this report from Kabul. The Miami Herald’s Carol R osenberg also contributed, from Miami.