WASHINGTON — The suicide bomber who killed seven CIA employees at a remote outpost in southeastern Afghanistan had been invited onto the base and had not been searched, two former U.S. officials told the Associated Press on Thursday.
A former senior intelligence official said the man was being courted as an informant and that it was the first time he had been brought inside the camp. An experienced CIA debriefer came from Kabul for the meeting, suggesting that the purpose was to gain intelligence, the official said.
The former intelligence official and another former official with knowledge of the attack spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The CIA would not confirm the details, and said it was still gathering evidence.
“It’s far too early to draw conclusions about something that happened just yesterday,” said spokesman George Little.
A separate U.S. official suggested the bomber may have set off the explosives as he was about to be searched. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The bombing on Wednesday killed was the chief of the CIA post, whom former officials identified as a mother of three. Six more agency personnel were wounded in what was considered the most lethal attack for the CIA since the war in Afghanistan began in 2001 and possibly even since the 1983 embassy bombing in Beirut.
According to one former agency employee, the death toll represents a significant portion of the CIA’s clandestine force in the region, but is unlikely to cripple the agency because so many of its employees have experience in Afghanistan.
The incident occurred at a former military base on the edge of Khost city, the capital of Khost province that borders Pakistan and is a Taliban stronghold.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement that an Afghan National Army officer wearing a suicide vest entered the base and blew himself up inside the gym. A U.S. official briefed on the blast also said it took place in the gym.
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