CIA agents killed in suicide attack ‘a gift from Allah’

Khurasani.gif

The banner from the posthumous videotape of Abu Dujanah al Khurasani, from a jihadist website.

In a videotape produced just before his death, an al Qaeda operative thought to have been turned by Jordanian intelligence to spy on the terror group said the CIA officers targeted and killed in a Dec. 30, 2009, suicide attack were “a gift from Allah.”

As Sahab released a posthumous videotape of Abu Dujanah al Khurasani, a longtime internet jihadi who was recruited by Jordanian intelligence to provide targeting information for the US’ covert air campaign against al Qaeda’s leaders and operations in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

Khurasani, who is also known as Humam Khalil Muhammed Abu Mulal al Balawi, carried out the suicide attack against the CIA at Combat Outpost Chapman in Khost province. Khurasani had enticed the CIA with promises of being able to produce Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s second in command.

The videotape, produced by As Sahab, al Qaeda’s propaganda outlet, shows Khurasani being questioned by an interviewer. Khurasani explained how he was recruited by Jordanian intelligence after being arrested, and that Jordanian intelligence was provide the means to travel to Pakistan’s tribal areas. [See Threat Matrix report “Transcript of interview with Jordanian suicide bomber Khurasani” for the full transcript.]

Khurasani stated that originally his target was Abu Zaid, his Jordanian intelligence contact. Khurasani initially planned to kidnap Zaid in Peshawar, but then he and al Qaeda leaders realized that they had an opportunity to spring a bigger trap. Al Qaeda established a council specifically to exploit the opportunity to draw in what he described as “prey.”

“And this is what the Mujahideen here in the Land of Khorasan realized, and that’s why their first action was to form a mini Shura council for this operation,” Khuransani said. “Every single step taken had the goal of luring Jordanian intelligence to this land to arrest or kill them and give them a message written in blood that the Mujahideen will not fail to use the same tactics the intelligence services use.”

To continue to entice his Jordanian handler, Khurasani broke contact with him for four months, then reestablished contact, explaining that conditions were too difficult to allow him to remain in touch while producing evidence that he was meeting with senior al Qaeda leaders.

“I cut off ties for four months in order for Jordanian intelligence to stew in its own juices thinking that this guy had abandoned it, so that if he came back to them and told them that conditions were difficult, they would buy his story quickly,” Khurasani said. “I cut ties for four months, then came back to them with some videos taken with leaders of the Mujahideen, so that they would think that I was leaking videos and betraying the Mujahideen. All praise is due to Allah, the bait fell in the right spot and they went head over heels with excitement. The videos I sent were actually taken with the Mujahideen’s own camera for this very purpose.”

Khurasani’s leads, which included false targeting information for the US strikes, ultimately led CIA officials from Kabul to Khost.

“But the amazing thing is that Abu Zaid was able to convince an entire CIA team responsible for spy drones to come to Golamkhan [the base in Khost],” he said. “So glory be to Allah: we planned for something but got a bigger gift, a gift from Allah.”

Khurasani spoke with contempt for Jordanian intelligence, which he described as “hired dogs” of the US. He repeatedly described his Jordanian handlers as “imbeciles,” “idiots,” and “corrupt.” He urge jihadists to kill intelligence officials, and even drivers and cooks working for the agency, in any way possible. He called on Jordanian jihadists to “[mobilize] to the land of Jihad [the Afghanistan-Pakistani border region] to learn the arts of war and train in them, then return to Jordan and begin operations.”

Khurasani also claimed that Jordanian intelligence was behind the assassination of three top leaders in Jihad: Abdullah Azzam, Osama bin Laden’s mentor and co-founder of al Qaeda, in 1989; Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, in 2006; and Imad Mugniyah, the military commander of Hezbollah, in 2008.

As Sahab had previously released a videotape of Khurasani just before his death. He was shown in a short clip seated with Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan.

Mustafa Abu Yazid, al Qaeda’s leader in Afghanistan, released a tape praising Khurasani after his death and said the attack was carried out to avenge the deaths of Saleh al Somali, al Qaeda’s former external operations chief; Baitullah Mehsud, the former leader of the Pakistani Taliban, and Abdullah Said al Libi, the leader of al Qaeda’s military wing, the Lashkar al Zil.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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9 Comments

  • He is spinning his actions to hide his Collaboration.
    The body language of the Taliban leader
    does not match the respect due a great double
    agent.
    Taliban caught him and turned him, martyr or
    turn coat, he picked martyr.
    See body language
    http://warintel.blogspot.com/2010/01/suicide-bombers-digust-taliban.html.
    G

  • Zeissa says:

    I like that the Arab Intelligence elite are proud of their fight against Islam, perhaps they will influence the rest of their society.

  • ED says:

    1.) HE WAS A ONE TRICK PONY. HE WILL NOT DO IT AGAIN.
    2.) HOW MANY MOSLEMS WILL DIE JUST BECAUSE THEY DECIDED TO WASTE A DOCTOR ON THIS OPERATION. HE COULD HAVE BEEN USED TO TREAT THEIR SICK AND WOUNDED.
    3.) SUICIDE BOMBERS JUST MEANS THE HARD CORE BELIEVERS IN THIS CAUSE ELIMINATE THEMSELVES.
    4.) THE TALIBAN DO NOT VALUE EDUCATION, WOMEN, OR CHILDREN. THEY WASTE DR’S AND ENGINEERS, TEACHERS AND ANYONE THAT ALLOW SOCIETY TO PROGRESS.

  • Al says:

    Why so many CIA people were in one group, vulnerable, at one time: beyond stupid.

  • Period at end of url gives error msg
    not found, sorry.
    corrected:
    http://warintel.blogspot.com/2010/01/suicide-bombers-digust-taliban.html
    G

  • kp says:

    The link given doesn’t work.
    This link has a rather better analysis
    http://warintel.blogspot.com/2010/01/taliban-spinning-cia-bomber.html

  • Infidel4LIFE says:

    they wanna keep thier people ignorant and in fear, they wanna go back to 700AD, no progress, just devotion to Allah and death to the unbelievers. Europe one day will be overrun, they have played this one masterfully. Outbirthing indig. Europeans will one day translate into political power, and possibly a shift in alliances. Besides the UK, our most fervent anti-moslem allies have been Baltic nations, Canada, Denmark. Europe could be overrun in the not so distant future.

  • T Ruth says:

    Gerald,
    I’m afraid you are spinning what your mind projects and therefore what you want to believe.
    The bomber is very convincing that he is on a mission to kill his primary enemy, the Jordanian agent and the collected group of CIA personnel who are the bonus.
    He speaks confidently and boldly with total self-assurance.No notes on him, no stammer or hesitation of any kind–all ex-tempore. He is anything but nervous about spilling his own blood or about the mission going wrong. He knows he is not going to be searched and patted down–such is his confidence that he has his foe in his grip.
    Lets be real: the enemy believes fiercely in their cause. Even moreso than ‘our’ side, which must moderate to suit the democracies that make up the key partners in the coalition.
    Isn’t it the lack of realism that trapped the CIA into this situation?

  • Gerald Anthro says:

    NO spin its all there.
    He has had 4 months to work up his story.
    Talbi caught a Jordain spy and had 4 months to
    turn him.
    My post isn’t about the CIA,
    its about Talbi turning a spy,
    and how they spun this into a
    propaganda play.
    Look at the video the Talbi leader
    has no respect for this turn coat.
    http://warintel.blogspot.com/2010/01/suicide-bombers-digust-taliban.html
    http://warintel.blogspot.com/2010/01/taliban-spinning-cia-bomber.html
    G

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