KABUL; Al-Qaeda hailed the suicide bombing that killed seven CIA agents in Afghanistan as “revenge” for the deaths of top militants in US drone strikes in Pakistan, Islamist websites said today.

A Jordanian doctor said to have been a triple agent blew himself up at a US military base in Khost near the Pakistani border on December 30, the deadliest attack against the CIA since 1983. Responsibility was claimed the day after by the Taliban.

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 several top militants killed in drone attacks in Pakistan.

Yazid described bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi’s mission as an “epic breakthrough” in penetrating both American and Jordanian intelligence, said Islamist websites. The slain militant masterminds named in the message included Baitullah Mehsud, who was leader of Pakistan’s Taliban and was blamed for a wave of deadly attacks, notably the December 2007 killing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. He was killed when a US missile slammed into his father-in-law’s house on August 5 last year.

Also named was Abu Saleh al-Somali, described as part of Al-Qaeda’s core leadership and responsible for plotting attacks in Europe and the United States. He was killed in a drone strike in the North Waziristan area near the Afghan border last month.

US media have described the US base as a key “anti-terror” facility that oversaw the drone strikes targeting Al-Qaeda and Taliban on the Pakistani border and as a centre for recruiting and debriefing informants.

Balawi blew himself up at Forward Operating Base Chapman during a meeting with the CIA, killing seven agents and his Jordanian handler, who was a senior intelligence officer and member of the royal family. Jihadist websites have said Balawi was a triple agent who duped Western intelligence services for months before turning on his handlers.

The Jordanian intelligence services, believing the bomber

to be their double agent, reportedly took him to eastern Afghanistan with the mission of finding Al-Qaeda number two

Ayman al-Zawahiri.