CIA bomber video called for revenge
Updated on 09 January 2010
A video purportedly of a Jordanian double agent who blew up himself and seven CIA operatives in Afghanistan shows him vowing revenge for the death of a Pakistani Taliban leader.
Dr Humam al-Balawi, who had been approached by Jordanian and US intelligence, describes both countries as his "enemies". The clip's authenticity has not been independently verified.
The video showed Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi sitting with Mehsud's successor Hakimullah Mehsud in an undisclosed location.
The channel, identifying the bomber by his online name, Abu Dujana al-Khorasani, quoted him as saying he "shared all secrets of Jordanian and American intelligence with his companions".
In August, Baitullah Mehsud, the supreme commander of the Pakistani Taliban was killed by a CIA missile strike.
Balawi, a former doctor, appeared in the video wearing a traditional Pakistani and Afghan hat. A black banner behind him read: "There is no God but Allah. Mohammad is the Prophet of Allah."
"We will never forget the blood of our emir Baitullah Mehsud, We will always demand revenge for him inside America and outside," al-Balawi said, addressing the "enemies of God" and Jordanian intelligence.
"It is an obligation of the emigrants who were welcomed by the emir."
If the video is verified, it will point to massive intelligence failures by the United States and Jordan, one of its most important Middle East allies. It was not clear when or where the video was taken but the presence of Mehsud would suggest it was taken in Pakistan.
Mehsud lost all his main bases in his South Waziristan bastion in a Pakistani offensive launched in mid-October.
His whereabouts are not known but he is believed to have fled from South Wazirstan to seek shelter with allies, possibly in North Waziristan.
