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BAGHDAD — The former commander of the Islamic State terrorists walked into the visitors’ room of his Baghdad prison. In slippers and a track suit, he greeted guards with a big smile, kissing them on the cheeks.

The scene testifies to the strange path of Abu Shakr, 36, who joined al-Qaeda out of anger over treatment of Iraq’s Sunnis and rose in the group as it transformed into the terrorist juggernaut now called the Islamic State. Finally, he became an informant against the group after his capture in 2013.

Security officials say he has given them guidance on Islamic State tactics and helped them find, capture and interrogate terrorists. In Salahuddin province, a key front line north of Baghdad, he helped the military win back key areas this week, including the town of Beiji.

He clearly has been willing to act against his former group in return for access to his family.

Speaking to The Associated Press, he didn’t express any remorse for his involvement in the group or directly denounce its actions. He said only that he never liked the group’s ferocious targeting of Shiites and Christians.

“We can’t stop this thing, but we can limit it,” he said of the Sunni terrorist group.

Abu Shakr’s drive to wage jihad was twofold: He said he was enraged by the U.S.-led occupation in Iraq that overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003 and bitter toward the Shiite-led government that Sunnis feel discriminates against them.

A graduate of Baghdad University, he joined al-Qaeda’s branch in Iraq in 2007. His reasoning: “If we invaded America, what would be the reaction? The American people … would resist, of course.”

Finally, in late 2013, they arrested Abu Shakr. Intelligence officials worked to flip him.

“Everyone has a weakness,” said Haitham, an intelligence officer who spoke on condition he be identified by only his first name. “His biggest weakness is his family.”

An Interior Ministry spokesman said Abu Shakr has not yet been sentenced for his collaboration with the terrorists, and the case is ongoing.