Jordan bomber said attack on CIA was revenge

The Jordanian doctor who killed seven CIA employees in a suicide attack in Afghanistan said in a video broadcast posthumously on Saturday that all jihadists must attack U.S. targets to avenge the death of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

The video showed Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi — whom the CIA had cultivated as an asset against the al-Qaeda — sitting with Mehsud’s successor at an undisclosed location. It confirmed the Pakistani Taliban’s claim of responsibility for one of the worst attacks in CIA history.

Speaking in Arabic in the video shown on al-Jazeera, the Arabic network, and Aaj, a Pakistani channel, al-Balawi noted that the Pakistani Taliban had given shelter to Muslim fighters from abroad.

Mehsud, the group’s long-time leader, was killed in August by a CIA missile strike.

“We will never forget the blood of our emir Baitullah Mehsud,” said al-Balawi. “We will always demand revenge for him inside America and outside. It is an obligation of the emigrants who were welcomed by the emir.”

The 32-year-old al-Balawi was apparently a double agent — perhaps even a triple-agent — with links to the al-Qaeda, the CIA and Jordanian intelligence. He was invited inside the CIA facility in Afghanistan’s eastern Khost province bearing a promise of information about Ayman al-Zawahri, the al-Qaeda’s second-in-command. Instead, he blew himself up in a December 30 meeting, killing seven including the CIA’s base chief.