Syrian Islamist Fighters Claim Suicide Attack Conducted By American
CLANCY: You're looking at thousands upon thousands of Syrian nationals going to cast ballots in this presidential election in Syria, but they are actually in Beirut, Lebanon and casting their ballots there. They shut down traffic. They caused a lot of consternation among the Beirutis there. It gives you an idea of how many Syrians have fled to neighboring Lebanon. But it was a political event sponsored in large part by Hezbollah and used as a rally in support of Bashar al Assad, drawing sharp criticism from many other Syrian refugees and some Syrian factions who say that the refugees in favor of Bashar al Assad should be sent home, because they are not suffering like the ones who have opposed him and are being told to kneel or starve. They all wanted to cast early ballots Wednesday in the presidential vote. You're watching Connect the World. We're live from CNN Center. Radical Islamist in Syria say one of the men who pulled off a recent suicide attack was an American. They say the attack took place near the city of Areeha (ph) in northwestern Syria Sunday. Syrian activists say four vehicles loaded with explosives were used. Mohammed Jamjoom is following the developments for us from our Washington bureau. Mohammed, what do we to make of this? Do we have an identity on this individual?</s>MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jim, the nom de guerre that's being used for this man is Abu Horaiya al-Amriki (ph), or in other words, Abu Horaiya (ph) the American. Insurgents in Syria, many of them affiliated with al Qaeda, or al Qaeda linked groups, are saying this is the first American suicide bomber in Syria, that this bombing happened on Sunday, that the truck that Abu Horaiya (ph) was in was packed with at least 17 tons of explosives and that the target was a government checkpoint in Idlib Province there in Syria. Now we're seeing these videos that have emerged online, some of them showing artillery shells that are being loaded into one of the trucks that was used in the attack. As you mentioned, four trucks, we're told, were used in this attack. It's unclear which truck exactly Abu Horaiya (ph) the American was in. What's interesting here is that despite the fact that jihadist forums are lit up with the fact that there was an American suicide bomber in Syria, the American law enforcement officials that we've spoken with thus far refusing to say if this man was an American citizen. They say definitely a link to America, that he is a U.S. person, that he might be a U.S. resident, but they say they will not be able to confirm if this is actually a U.S. citizen until they can conduct tests on the body. But judging by the blast that you see in that video, which is so powerful and created such shockwaves, it's really looking less than likely that there would be any remains that they would actually be able to test and find out for sure if this man is an American, Jim.</s>CLANCY: There are foreign fighters who come from all different parts of the world, and some of them specifically choose that task to carry out suicide bombings, but that gives counterterror organizations, police all across Europe and in the United States, you know, heart palpitations, because they understand, you know, the terrible significance of that. I'm just wondering whether you can address why that heightens fears so much?</s>JAMJOOM: This is really becoming a nightmare scenario, Jim. You're absolutely right, this does heighten fire. The reason for this not so much that there are American and other foreign fighters that are fighting alongside al Qaeda affiliated groups, or groups that aren't even affiliated with al Qaeda anymore because they've gotten so extreme like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, what they're more concerned about is what happens if these fighters are able to leave Syria, come back to the U.S. or other countries, and then carry out attacks there. What they're worried about is a repeat of a 9/11 type scenario. They don't want to see that happen. And that's something we heard even from the FBI director last week who stated that that's what their most concerned about when it comes to foreign fighters that have gone into Syria. Syria has become a real hornets nest. It's opened up to the point that so many people are coming in, there are so many different insurgent groups, so many al Qaeda affiliated groups. Now there are foreign fighters there, and they're really worried about those foreign fighters leaving, coming back to other parts of the world carrying out attacks there, Jim.</s>CLANCY: A killing ground cum training ground if you will in Syria today. Mohammed Jamjoom, good to have you with us. Well, the latest world headlines are going to be just ahead. Plus, Nigerians have not been at all happen with their government's response to the mass abduction of schoolgirls. We're going to talk about those criticisms next with an advisor to Nigeria's president. Stay with us.