as a jihadi, so did aimen dean, who fought on the front lines. in one battle his job was helping the wounded and he almost became a casualty himself. >> i heard the cries of an arab individual. so i was going to get him out of one of the bunker and with without knowing it basically, i was pulling the wires that were linked to land mines. >> reporter: he says there were at least four land mines attached to the wire wrapped around his legs, yet none detonated. >> at that time i wasn't grateful. i thought i was denied my shot at martyrdom. i wanted to be a martyr. >> reporter: dean was a true believer. but he would be tested when fellow fighter decided to murder their prisoners. >> young people from saudi arabia, from tunisia, nigeria, taking their axes and big knives and basically beheading serbian soldiers. >> reporter: so they killed them in cold blood? >> yes. >> reporter: and what did you think about that? >> at the time i remember i saw the ugliness of the bosnian war and what it did to my comrades, what it did to my friends. we came to bosnia