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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| American jacket walla dead in Syria |
| 2014-05-29 |
| An American citizen carried out a suicide bombing in Syria on behalf of an al Qaeda-linked militant group on Sunday, apparently the first time a U.S. citizen has carried out such an attack in the Syrian civil war, U.S. law enforcement and counterterrorism officials tell NBC News. The officials confirmed the suicide bombing and said they have identified the American. They declined to release his identity or hometown. Word of the Americanâs death in the suicide bombing first surfaced Tuesday in tweets from the al-Nusra Front, an al Qaeda-linked group fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The tweets identified the bomber only by his Arabic nom de guerre, âAbu Hurayra al-Amriki,â (Abu Hurayra the American) and said he carried out one of four suicide bombings of Syrian government sites in Jabal al-Arbaa'in in Idlib Province -- the scene of heavy fighting in recent weeks and months. "Abu Hurayra Al-Amriki performed a martrydom operation in Idlib, Jabal Al-Arba'een. May Allah accept him," it said. The tweet included an image of a young, bearded and smiling Caucasian man holding a cat, as well as images of the bombing it said he had carried out. Another tweet, this one in Arabic, included a photo showing the same light-skinned man sitting on the ground wearing what appeared to be a suicide vest. Syrian rebel sources based in London tell NBC News that other jihadi tweets suggest the American was of Palestinian descent. The incident is believed to be the first suicide bombing by a U.S. citizen in the Syrian civil war. Three Americans were confirmed to have carried suicide attacks in Somalia on behalf of another al Qaeda linked group, al Shabab, between 2009 and 2011. Laith Alkhouri, an NBC News counterterrrorism analyst who found the material online, said reports indicated that "the truck used in the suicide bombing allegedly carried over 16 tons of explosives." Alkhouri said that if the account is proven accurate, it would almost certainly be used in future propaganda by the al-Nasra Front, which is on the U.S. terrorist watch list. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 Unfortunately, they probably are, Sq. :-( |
| Posted by: Barbara 2014-05-29 20:13 |
| #1 His parents must be so proud.~ |
| Posted by: Squinty 2014-05-29 19:58 |