Jordanian intel officer killed in attack on CIA base

A senior Jordanian intelligence officer has been identified as the eighth man killed in the attack on secret CIA base in Afghanistan with reports saying that bomber was also an Arab, raising the spectre that the strike could have been the handiwork of al-Qaeda.     Washington Post quoting Jordanian official news agency Petra, identified the slain officer as Ali Bin Zeid, saying itprovided "a rare window into a partnership" between the US and the Jordanian intelligence service, in which Amman was playing a vital role in the fight against al-Qaeda.     The paper said, the Jordanians were sought after for their skill in interrogating captives and cultivating informants as they had unrivalled expertise with radical Islamic groups.     The close ties between the CIA and Jordanian intelligence service, known as General Intelligence Department (GID) hadhelped disrupt several known terrorist plots, including a plan to attack tourists at hotels and other sites in the case which has come to be known as 2000 Millennium conspiracy.     Washington Post said the US intelligence officials declined to comment on the death of the Jordanian officer or to specify the role GID agents were playing in the region. "We have a close partnership with the Jordanians on counter terrorism matters," acknowledged a US counter-terrorism official, who agreed to discuss the sensitive relationship onthe condition of anonymity.