Suicide Bomber Says He Lured CIA Agents With Phony Intelligence

The suicide bomber in a late-December attack on a CIA base in Afghanistan claims in a posthumously released video that he lured U.S. intelligence officers into a trap by feeding them false information, The Washington Post reports. The bomber, a Jordanian physician named Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, says in the video that he sent U.S. and Jordanian officers fake tips about terrorist activity and videos he made of senior al-Qaeda operatives. He originally planned to kidnap one Jordanian operative, but stumbled on an unexpected opportunity to kill several Americans as well.

"It wasn't planned this way," Balawi says in the 44-minute video released Sunday by al-Qaeda's media arm. He discusses "the stupidity of Jordanian intelligence and the stupidity of American intelligence" in inviting him to Afghanistan to set up a strike against al-Qaeda.

The bombing, which killed six Americans and three others, was the deadliest attack on a CIA base in 25 years. The new video, if authentic, is the second featuring Balawi discussing his path from doctor to suicide bomber, after U.S. and Jordanian officials offered him millions of dollars for help in planning a raid.