started to get out of the car , with one hand in his pocket , when he detonated the explosives , the source said . `` It was no accident that some of the CIA officers were standing on the opposite side , '' the former intelligence official said . The official observed it was the safest place to be , as `` they waited for the Xe guys to do what they 're paid to do and frisk him . '' Also , there could have been some cultural sensitivity , with an Arab man about to be searched in front of female CIA officers who were there . The official says that `` there was no point going up to him until after the guards had patted him down . '' Some of these details were first reported in The Washington Post earlier this week . The official expressed surprise at how much shrapnel tore through the area , killing seven CIA officers and contractors -- including the two Xe Services guards -- as well as a Jordanian intelligence official . Former CIA Agent Jack Rice told CNN that frequently , suicide bombers ' explosive vests are wrapped
Washington -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The suicide bomber who killed seven CIA officers and contractors and a Jordanian intelligence official in Afghanistan was within seconds of being searched by two security contractors when he detonated his explosives , a former intelligence official with knowledge of the incident told CNN on Tuesday . On December 30 , the two American guards , who worked for Xe Services -- formerly Blackwater USA -- approached the passenger side of the red 4-door sedan where bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi was sitting , the official said . Al-Balawi had been invited to the base to share information he claimed to have that would lead the United States directly to Ayman al-Zawahiri , al Qaeda 's second in command . The sedan was waved through the normal security checkpoints to get onto the base , and pulled up just outside a one-story building -- a temporary space that was being used to interrogate people brought onto base . Several CIA officers and contractors were standing on the driver 's side of the car , opposite al-Balawi , and others were standing as far as 50 feet away , a U.S. intelligence official said . Al-Balawi