AL-QAEDA said the suicide bombing at a US base in Afghanistan that killed seven CIA agents was "revenge" for the deaths of top militants in US drone strikes in Pakistan. A Jordanian identified as Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, who was said to be a triple agent, blew himself up at the base in Khost on December 30 in the deadliest attack against the CIA since 1983.
The head of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, said the bomber wrote in his will that the attack was revenge for "our righteous martyrs" and named a number of top militants killed in US drone attacks, US monitoring group SITE reported.
These included Baitullah Mehsud, (pictured) the leader of Pakistan's Taliban blamed for a wave of deadly attacks including the killing of former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto in December 2007.
Mehsud was killed when a US missile slammed into his father-in-law's house in August last year.
The al-Qaeda statement surfaced after another round of US drone strikes left 11 militants dead near Pakistan's Afghan border yesterday.
Attacks by unmanned US spy planes have soared in the past year, with Washington determined to wipe out militant sanctuaries while the extremists have vowed fierce retaliation.
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