ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – The suicide bomber who killed CIA agents in Afghanistan had made a video calling on militants to avenge the death of the Pakistani Taliban leader by carrying out attacks in and outside the United States, al Jazeera said.
A pilotless US drone aircraft strike killed Pakistan Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud last year.
Al Jazeera reported on its website that the video was left as a message to the United States and its Arab ally Jordan by the bomber, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, in which he tells them: “We say that we will never forget the blood of our Emir Baitullah Mehsud, God’s mercy on him.”
Balawi blew himself up on Dec. 30 inside Forward Operating Base Chapman, a well-fortified U.S.
compound in Khost province in southeast Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan, killing seven CIA officers.
It was the second-most deadly attack in CIA history.
Al Jazeera quotes the former Jordanian doctor as saying it was the obligation of all of Mehsud’s fighters “to retaliate for his death in the United States and outside the United States.”
Pakistan television station AAJ showed what it said was a video of Balawi sitting with Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, and reported he shared US and Jordanian state secrets with militants.
Hakimullah, Mehsud’s successor, is leading a Taliban insurgency against Pakistan’s pro-American government.
If the video is verified, it will point to big 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 Hakimullah Mehsud would suggest it was taken in Pakistan. The video is likely to focus more attention on Pakistan’s efforts to wipe out militant groups along its northwest border with Afghanistan.
Pakistan, a front-line state in the US-led war on terrorism, is likely to feel vindicated by the video which would appear to show the Pakistani Taliban were behind the attack on the CIA. They and several groups claimed responsibility for it.
Facing constant US pressure, Pakistan has long argued that it should focus on fighting the Pakistani Taliban and cannot afford to open up new fronts against Afghan Taliban factions, whose members cross the border to attack Western forces in Afghanistan.
