CIA suicide attacker's wife 'shocked' but proud

Amman, Jordan - The wife of an alleged suicide bomber who killed eight people at a U.S. base in Afghanistan last week says she is shocked by his actions but "proud" of what he did. Defne Bayrak, the Turkish wife of Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi - a Jordanian doctor identified as the attacker - said she doubted accusations her husband had been an intelligence agent, but was satisfied he did not die in vain.

"I am proud of my husband. My husband accomplished a very big operation in such a war," she told reporters. "If he is a martyr, may God accept his martyrdom."

Al-Balawi has been named as the suspected bomber behind a December 30 attack on a U.S. base in Khost, in southeastern Afghanistan, that killed killed seven CIA officers and contractors, and a Jordanian army captain.

Bayrak, speaking from their home in Istanbul, told CNN Turk television she was "shocked" to hear what he had done. "It is impossible for me to make a guess if he was an agent, what was his reason going there," she said. "I am not saying whether I am believing or not believing. I am trying to say, we were not expecting something like this."

Read more about the reaction from the suspect's father, mother and brother