Video shows smiling American bomber in Syria

AS reported in 'The Japan News' : Video shows smiling American bomber in Syria 9:36 pm, July 27, 2014

The Associated Press An undated frame grab shows American suicide attacker Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha. The Associated Press BEIRUT (AP)—An Al-Qaida-linked group fighting in Syria has released video of the first American to carry out a suicide attack in the country’s civil war, showing him smiling and saying he looked forward to going to heaven. The Nusra Front released the new video late Friday showing American citizen Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, 22, with other fighters before the May 25 attack that targeted several army positions at the same time. It said two of the other three suicide attackers in the assault in the government-held northwestern city of Idlib were from foreign countries, including one who was identified as being from the Maldives. Abu-Salha appears smiling in the video and speaks in broken Arabic. “I want to rest in the afterlife, in heaven. There is nothing here and the heart is not resting,” Abu-Salha says. “Heaven is better. When people die they either go to heaven or hell. There is happiness beyond explanation.” The video, released by Nusra Front’s media arm, al-Manara al-Baydha, was posted on jihadi websites. Opposition forces previously identified the American who carried out the bombing as Abu Hurayra al-Amriki and said he was a U.S. citizen. The name al-Amriki means “the American” in Arabic. It’s unknown how many people were killed in the bombing. Opposition rebels with the Nusra Front said Abu-Salha’s truck was laden with 16 tons of explosives to tear down the al-Fanar restaurant, a gathering site for Syrian troops.