Seven CIA operatives killed last December in a suicide attack on their base in Khost, Afghanistan have been honored with stars carved on the spy agency's Memorial Wall, the Central Intelligence Agency said Tuesday.
CIA Director Leon Panetta paid tribute in a ceremony Monday to the seven killed December 30 at the CIA base in Khost, including its chief, Jennifer Matthews, 45.
The names of Matthews and the other six were entered into the agency's Book of Honor, which is on public display beneath the white marble wall at CIA headquarters that memorializes Americans who died in the line of duty.
Stars representing five other CIA operatives killed on secret missions in recent years also were added to the wall, but their names remain classified, the agency said.
Names are entered in the Book of Honor after they have been declassified.
The wall now has 102 stars representing Americans who lost their lives in the line of duty.
"No matter when or where they served, or whether their names are known to the world or only to us, each cherished colleague remains a constant source of inspiration and courage," Panetta said in a ceremony at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
Besides Matthews, the Americans killed in Khost include Daren LaBonte, 35; Scott Roberson, 39; Harold Brown, 37; Elizabeth Hanson, 30; and contractors Jeremy Wise, 35, and Dane Paresi, 46.
The suicide attack on Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost marked the CIA's worst loss in a single day since the 1983 bombing of the US embassy in Beirut, in which more than 60 people were killed including eight agency personnel.
A Jordanian triple agent blew himself up after being escorted onto the base, killing seven Americans and his Jordanian handler.
Copyright 2010 AFP American Edition
