Suicide Bomber in CIA Deaths Was al-Qaeda Double Agent
Christopher Weber
Correspondent
Posted:
01/5/10
The suicide bomber who killed eight people at a CIA base in Afghanistan last week was a Jordanian working as an al-Qaeda double agent.
Western intelligence officials identified the suicide bomber as Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a 36-year-old doctor from Zarqa, Jordan, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Jordanian authorities, working with the CIA, arrested al-Balawi in 2008 and eventually recruited him to infiltrate al-Qaeda, believing he had rejected the terrorist group, according to the Times.
"What this tells you is that al-Qaeda is now capable of running a fairly sophisticated double-agent operation," a former CIA official told the paper. "This guy totally had them believing, which means he had [previously] given them verifiable information and everything had checked out."
The CIA declined to comment on the report or the agency's relationship with Jordan's intelligence service.
The Dec. 30 bombing at the compound in Afghanistan's Khost province killed seven CIA workers and a Jordanian official.
Western intelligence officials identified the suicide bomber as Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a 36-year-old doctor from Zarqa, Jordan, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Jordanian authorities, working with the CIA, arrested al-Balawi in 2008 and eventually recruited him to infiltrate al-Qaeda, believing he had rejected the terrorist group, according to the Times.
"What this tells you is that al-Qaeda is now capable of running a fairly sophisticated double-agent operation," a former CIA official told the paper. "This guy totally had them believing, which means he had [previously] given them verifiable information and everything had checked out."
The CIA declined to comment on the report or the agency's relationship with Jordan's intelligence service.
The Dec. 30 bombing at the compound in Afghanistan's Khost province killed seven CIA workers and a Jordanian official.