Asia-Pacific
CIA bomber calls for attacks on US in video
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-01-09 19:29
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CAIRO: The Jordanian doctor who killed seven CIA employees in a suicide attack in Afghanistan said all jihadists must attack US targets to avenge the killing of the Pakistani Taliban leader, according to a video that appeared posthumously Saturday on an Arabic news channel.
Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi appeared next to the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud, and explained how the "emigrants" Muslim jihadists from abroad - were given shelter by the Pakistani Taliban and so should exact revenge for US attacks.
In August, Baitullah Mehsud, the supreme commander of the Pakistani Taliban was killed by a CIA missile strike.
"We will never forget the blood of our emir Baitullah Mehsud, We will always demand revenge for him inside America and outside," he said, addressing the "enemies of God" and Jordanian intelligence. "It is an obligation of the emigrants who were welcomed by the emir."
Al-Balawi, wearing traditional Afghan dress, spoke in Arabic during the minute-and-a-half video. Several extremist Islamic Web sites linked to the Jazeera video.
The IntelCenter, a US-based group monitoring extremist sites, said the video was released by the Pakistani branch of the Taliban.
Jordanian intelligence officials have said they believed the devout 32-year-old doctor had been persuaded to support US efforts against al-Qaida in Afghanistan. They say al-Balawi was recruited to help capture or kill Ayman al-Zawahri, a doctor from Egypt who is Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, according to a counterterrorism official based in the Middle East.
In the video, al-Balawi appeared to mock reports that he had ever been in the employ of US or Jordanian intelligence.
"The emigrant for the sake of God will not put his religion on the bargaining table and will not sell his religion even if they put the sun in his right hand and the moon in his left," he said, making a reference to a verse in the Muslim holy book.
When asked by tribal leaders to cease spreading the new religion of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad replied that he would not, even if given the sun and moon, according to the Quranic verse.
Al-Balawi ended the video by saying the Taliban under the leadership of the new emir, Hakimullah, would continue fighting until victory.
The Pakistani Taliban named Hakimullah their top commander after the death of their leader. The 20-something heir is considered a somewhat rash actor who doesn't hesitate to use violence.
The CIA attack would be the most prolific strike on a US target by the Pakistani Taliban under Hakimullah. He is believed to be evading the Pakistani military offensive by hiding somewhere along the border dividing South and North Waziristan tribal regions.
The Pakistani Taliban and the Afghan Taliban are separate, though linked, insurgent movements.
The Afghan Taliban are focused on ridding Afghanistan of Western troops and toppling the US-backed government in Kabul, while the Pakistani Taliban are primarily determined to overthrow the US-allied government in Islamabad.
It is unusual for one group to claim responsibility for an attack in the other group's territory, as the Pakistani Taliban have done with the CIA case. But both militant movements are largely driven by Pashtuns, an ethnic group that straddles both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border and whose members easily slip back and forth between the countries.
A major Pakistani army offensive in South Waziristan is believed to have forced many Pakistani Taliban leaders to go on the run to other parts of the lawless tribal belt along the Afghan border.
Though the group initially appeared to be in disarray after the August missile strike and the offensive, it and linked militant groups are suspected in a rising tide of violence in Pakistan since October. More than 600 people have died in a range of suicide and other bombings across the nuclear-armed country during the wave of bloodshed.
In addition, the Pakistani Taliban recently claimed they have sent thousands of fighters to help their brethren in Afghanistan battle the surging number of US and NATO troops.
But those claims were met with skepticism by analysts who said the Pakistani Taliban are trying to worsen the already tense relationship between the US and Pakistan, as well as the US military, which said it had not noticed large-scale movements of insurgents across the border.
