What a surprise!
The suicide bomber who killed 22 people when he blew himself up in a US mess hall in Mosul, Iraq, was a Saudi medical student, an Arab newspaper reported Monday. Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat identified him as 20-year-old Ahmed Said Ahmed al-Ghamdi, citing unnamed friends of the man's father.
| We've heard from the al-Ghamdis before |
| Isn't it about time we make sure we never hear from them again? |
The friends said members of an Iraqi resistance group contacted al-Ghamdi's father to tell him his son was the suicide bomber who carried out the Dec. 21 attack, the deadliest on an American installation in Iraq.
| I'm sure Dad was very proud. |
| There's one medical student I won't be hearing about in the next USMLE Bulletin. |
The Associated Press was unable to reach Saudi security officials for comment despite several phone calls on Monday.
The father refused to discuss the suicide bombing, but told the newspaper his son had gone to Iraq to fight the Americans and had died there. The family held a mourning ceremony the paper said. It did not say when the ceremony was held or where in Saudi Arabia the family lived.
| I believe their home stomping grounds is Assir province... |
The paper did not name the Iraqi resistance group. But Ansar al-Sunnah, a radical Islamic Iraqi group that has been active in northern Iraq, claimed responsibility for the mess hall attack. In a videotape posted on the Web, Ansar al-Sunnah identified the suicide bomber as Abu Omar al-Musali - an apparent nom de guerre meaning Abu Omar of Mosul. The man identified as Abu Omar al-Musali appeared in the Web video wearing an explosives-laden vest, but did not speak. Another man, speaking in an Iraqi accent, described how the operation had been planned. A subsequent segment showed what appeared to have been the attack.
| Had he expounded, his Soddy accent probably would have spoiled the homegrown effect... |
Ansar al-Sunnah shares the anti-Western, Quranic rhetoric of Islamic extremist groups like Al Qaeda, but has confined its fight to Iraq and has not actively recruited foreign fighters.
| Yeah. He prob'ly had to fight his way in... |
The group, though, has declared that it worked with an Al Qaeda branch in Iraq on at least one operation, in November. Asharq al-Awsat said al-Ghamdi started studying medicine in Sudan when his father worked and lived there. Al-Ghamdi stayed to complete his studies when his family returned to Saudi Arabia, the paper reported, without saying when the family left. It said the father said he learned Dec. 16 that his son had withdrawn all the money left in a Sudanese bank account for him and later received a phone call from his son telling him that he was in Iraq to fight the Americans. The al-Ghamdis are a large Saudi clan. Three al-Ghamdis were among the Sept. 11 hijackers.
| Cue "Family Affair" theme. |
Saudi Arabia has launched a crackdown on militants that started after terrorism was brought home with an alleged Al Qaeda attack on three residential compounds in Riyadh in May 2003. The kingdom also has been under pressure to ensure Saudi militants do not cross its border into Iraq. |