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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Jordans Ambassador to Pakistan Targeted by Plot

2010-03-25

[Asharq al-Aswat] Jordan's ambassador to Pakistan was the target of a Taliban kidnap attempt foiled by authorities in Islamabad and is now safe, the Jordanian information minister said Tuesday. The incident followed calls for attacks on the Jordanian government by an al-Qaeda double agent who killed seven CIA operatives and a Jordanian agent in Afghanistan last December. On Monday, Pakistani police announced the arrest of two highly experienced Taliban militants planning to attack top hotels and kidnap diplomats in Pakistan. The militants' identities and their targets weren't disclosed at the time. Jordanian Information Minister Nabil Sharif said ambassador Saleh al-Jawarneh was the target of plot and was now safe in Jordan. He said Jordanian security was in contact with Pakistan for detailed information on the probe under way. "We have great confidence in the ability of the Pakistani authorities to protect the Jordanian embassy and its staff in Islamabad," Sharif told The Associated Press. Jordan's Islamabad embassy has 12 staff, including six accredited Jordanian diplomats. Pakistani police spokesman Naeem Iqbal says investigators were questioning the two Taliban militants in custody about their plans to kidnap the Jordanian ambassador and attack a five star hotel and a club frequented by Westerners. "They have confessed to having planned taking the targets," Iqbal said. "Officers are questioning them about details of their plan." Jordan is a key U.S. Mideast ally and Israel's peace partner. The moderate Arab kingdom has often been targeted by Islamic militants, including al-Qaeda, which is closely allied with the Taliban. In a posthumous video message last month, al-Qaeda double agent Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi, a Jordanian, called for attacks on members of Jordan's intelligence agency and the need to overthrow its government, citing Jordan's strong support for Washington. "There is no solution to the situation in Jordan other than mobilizing to the land of jihad to learn the arts of war and train in them, then return to Jordan and begin operations," he said. In 2005, al-Qaeda militants from Iraq carried out near simultaneous attacks on three Jordan-based luxury hotels, killing 60 people.

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Afghanistan

Al-Qaida bomber calls for attacks on Jordan spies

2010-03-01

An al-Qaida double agent that killed seven CIA operatives and a Jordanian spy called for jihad in Jordan and attacks on its intelligence agency in a posthumous video message posted on extremist Web sites Sunday. Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi also described Sunday in the 43-minute video his recruitment by Jordanian intelligence and how he double crossed them after they sent him to Afghanistan to spy on al-Qaida. The video was apparently filmed shortly before the 32-year-old al-Balawi blew himself up at a CIA facility on Dec. 30 in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost where he'd been invited to reveal information on al-Qaida No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri. Al-Balawi said he only expected to kill his Jordanian handler, Ali bin Zaid, but the addition of the CIA members was a windfall. "We planned for something but got a bigger gift, a gift from Allah, who brought us, through His accompaniment, a valuable prey: Americans, and from the CIA. That's when I became certain that the best way to teach Jordanian intelligence and the CIA a lesson is with the martyrdom belt," he said in the video. The secretive eastern Afghan CIA base was reportedly used as a key outpost in the effort to identify and target terror leaders, many of whom were taken out by the drone-fired missile strikes. It was one of the worst losses for the CIA ever and revealed the cooperation between the American and Jordanian intelligence services. Al-Balawi, who appeared in a military fatigues cradling an assault rifle and what appears to be C4 explosives, described the successes of Jordanian intelligence against extremists over the years and their close working relationship with the CIA. He said Jordan had provided information for the killing of Al-Qaida in Iraq chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2006 as well as that of top Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, who died in a car bomb in Damascus in 2008. "The Jordanian intelligence apparatus has a record which emboldens them to such behavior, but with Allah's permission, after this operation, they will never stand on their feet again," he said.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Al-Qaeda bomber calls for attacks on Jordan spies

2010-02-28

An al-Qaida double agent that killed seven CIA agents and Jordanian spy has called for jihad in Jordan and attacks on its intelligence agency in a new video message. Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi described Sunday in the 43-minute video that appeared on jihadi Web sites his recruitment by Jordanian intelligence and how he double crossed them. The video was apparently filmed shortly before the 32-year-old al-Balawi blew himself up at a CIA facility on Dec. 30 in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost where he'd been invited to reveal information on al-Qaida. Al-Balawi said he had only expected to kill his Jordanian handler, Ali bin Zeid, but the addition of the CIA members was a windfall. Al-Balawi called for attacks on Jordanian intelligence agents everywhere.

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Afghanistan

Suicide attack on CIA agents 'was planned by bin Laden inner circle'

2010-01-07

US intelligence officials believe that the suicide bomb attack that killed seven CIA officers in Afghanistan last month was planned with the help of Osama bin Laden's close allies, raising fears that the al-Qaeda leader is enjoying a lethal resurgence. They think that the attack could not have taken place without the prior knowledge and assistance of the Haqqanis, the powerful Taleban group thought to be shielding bin Laden. The attack was carried out by a Jordanian doctor whom the CIA believed was about to divulge the whereabouts of bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al- Zawahiri. It is one of the deadliest blows against the CIA and has increased tensions between the US and Pakistan because of Islamabad's repeated failure to target the Haqqanis. The Haqqanis control a large block of territory on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border near the Afghan town of Khost, a Taleban hotbed near where the CIA officials were killed on December 30. It is also where the US believes bin Laden is hiding. One former CIA officer, who did not wish to be named, told The Times that the agency had taped evidence of a Pakistani army officer tipping the Haqqanis off about a raid and a member of Pakistan's intelligence service boasting that the “Haqqanis are our guys'. Pakistan has ignored US demands to target the strongholds of the Haqqanis' leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani, whose father, Jalaluddin, founded the network and was a Mujahidin commander and ally of the US during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. The network is said to be behind several audacious attacks, including the bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul in July 2008. Michael Scheuer, the former head of the CIA unit tracking bin Laden, said: “There is no way this operation would have occurred in Khost without the knowledge and active support of Jalaluddin Haqqani and/or his son. They and their organisation own the area and nothing occurs that would impact their tribe or its allies without their knowledge or OK. Both men, moreover, would be delighted to help bin Laden in any way they can.' Mahmood Shah, who served as security chief of Pakistan's lawless tribal region, agreed: “The attack may have been planned by al-Qaeda, but it could not have been possible without the help of the Haqqani group.' What has alarmed the US is the fact that al-Qaeda and the Taleban managed, despite an intense US bombing campaign, to mount an operation that wiped out the top CIA experts involved in the hunt for bin Laden. “It's a huge blow,' a former CIA officer said. “If you are Osama bin Laden, your biggest enemy is the CIA. This is a big hit.' Certainly makes Binny to be the stronger horse in the region, doesn't it ... The attack was carried out by Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi, who came to the CIA via Jordanian intelligence. He had already provided accurate information on the whereabouts of lower-level al-Qaeda and Taleban operatives Thus demonstrating his 'bona-fides' ... but he was allowed on to the CIA's Forward Operating Base Chapman without undergoing a security check and then permitted access to more than ten CIA employees, an extraordinarily high number to congregate around an Islamist informant. He detonated his bomb soon after entering the base, killing four CIA field agents, three CIA security guards and a Jordanian intelligence officer. One of the dead was the CIA's chief at the base, a woman in her mid-thirties. CIA is supposed to be better than this. This is slip-shod fieldcraft. I don't care how much you 'trust' the guy, you're supposed to trust no one and behave accordingly. “Several of the [dead] were ... among the top five experts on al- Qaeda in the United States,' Mr Scheuer said. “When you lose that type of expertise, it's very hard to replace it; impossible in the near term.' Former CIA officials told The Times that the high number of CIA officers travelling from Kabul to meet al-Balawi reflected how desperate the agency was for information on bin Laden. That al-Balawi came via Jordanian intelligence has proved deeply embarrassing for Jordan, exposing how closely the country works with the US in sharing intelligence and operatives on the front line in the war against extremists. The Jordanian intelligence official killed in the blast was buried in Jordan on Tuesday but the Jordanian Government refused to acknowledge his role with the CIA in Afghanistan. Anti-US sentiment is high in Jordan.

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