Jordan is showing signs of deep embarrassment at revelations about the role of its intelligence service in “running” the al-Qaida triple agent who killed seven CIA officers and his own handler in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan last week.

Last weekend, King Abdullah and his wife Rania attended the funeral of Captain Ali Bin Zeid, the case officer for the Jordanian jihadi who blew himself up and triggered a huge row about the failures of US espionage operations.

But officials in Amman and the state-controlled media have refused to confirm details of the case as reported in the US media and by al-Jazeera. The suicide bomber, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, has been described simply as an “informant” whose intelligence was shared with “friendly countries”. Balawi’s family have been ordered not to speak to the media about the case.