Zarqa: The suspected Jordanian double agent who killed seven CIA officers in Afghanistan was thrown into jail by Jordanian intelligence to coerce him to track down al-Qaida`s No 2 leader, Mideast counter terrorism officials said.
The 32-year-old doctor`s allegiance was to al-Qaida from the start, however, and not to his Jordanian recruiters or their CIA friends and it never wavered, a Middle East counter
terrorism official has revealed.
He and two other counter terrorism officials gave identical accounts of how and when Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi was recruited.
Jordanian intelligence believed the devout young Muslim had been persuaded to support US efforts against al-Qaida in Afghanistan and wanted al-Balawi to help capture or kill Ayman al-Zawahri, a fellow doctor from Egypt who is Osama bin Laden`s right-hand man, according to another counter terrorism official based in the Middle East.
All four spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment on matters involving the CIA and Jordan`s national security.
Family and friends said al-Balawi, a father of two young daughters, had practiced medicine in a clinic at a Palestinian refugee camp near Zarqa, the hometown of slain al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Bureau Report
