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Al-Qaida claims credit for Jordan blasts
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-10 17:18
Al-Qaida claimed responsibility in an Internet posting Thursday for three
suicide attacks on Western hotels that killed at least 57 people, as police
clamped down on security and began running DNA tests to try to identify the
bombers.
The nearly simultaneous attacks late Wednesday also wounded more than 115
people, police said. Several arrests were made overnight, although it was
unclear if those arrested were suspects or witnesses.
The claim of responsibility, signed in the name of the spokesman for the
group Al-Qaida in Iraq, said that "after studying and watching the targets,
places were chosen to carry out an attack on some hotels that the tyrant of
Jordan has made the backyard garden for the enemy of religion: Jews and
crusaders" — a stock term for Westerners.
The posting's authenticity could not be verified, but it appeared on an
Islamic Web site that acts as a clearing house for statements by militant
groups.
Police guard the entrance of a shattered front
to the Hyatt hotel in Amman, Jordan, approximately one hour after a bomb
exploded in the main lobby, Wednesday Nov 9
2005.[AP] | The posting did not name King Abdullah II, but it twice referred to the
"tyrant of Jordan," adding he should know that "the backyard camp for the
crusaders' army is now within range of the holy warriors."
Abdullah chaired a meeting with his security chiefs just hours after
returning home from a trip abroad and inspecting the still-smoldering sites.
A security official said several people were rounded up overnight, but would
not provide other details. He said authorities had tips on suspects who are
being hunted down, including possible sleeper cells or individuals who may have
assisted the attackers and later fled in a vehicle bearing Iraqi license plates.
The official, insisting on anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to
reporters, said that DNA tests were being carried out to determine the identity
of the perpetrators, including two suicide bombers who blew themselves up in two
of the separate hotel attacks. A third suicide attacker used a car to attack the
third hotel.
The dead and wounded were mainly Jordanians, said Jordan's Deputy Prime
Minister Marwan Muahser.
Other victims included three Chinese, all from China's elite training
university, who were visiting the kingdom and four Palestinians.
Maj.-Gen. Bashir Nafeh, the head of military intelligence in the West Bank,
and Col. Abed Allun, a high-ranking Preventive Security forces official, were
killed in the attack at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, the Palestinian envoy to Amman,
Ambassador Attala Kheri, told The Associated Press.
Israel's Foreign Ministry confirmed that an Israeli was killed in the
bombings, but had no other details.
The government was quick to lay blame on al-Qaida's chief in Iraq, the
Jordanian-born Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, who heads the al-Qaida in Iraq group, for
the attacks that rocked the U.S. hotel chains Grand Hyatt and Days Inn and the
Swedish Radisson SAS late Wednesday, sending smoke billowing into the skies of
Amman.
While the group al-Qaida in Iraq is based in Iraq, it is part of the al-Qaida
network led by Osama bin Laden, and there have been credible reports of
correspondence between bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, and al-Zarqawi.
Jordan's Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher said shortly after the blasts
that al-Zarqawi was a "prime suspect." Al-Zarqawi is known for his animosity to
the Jordanian monarchy.
The state Jordan Television showed Abdullah inspecting the sites of the
blasts after returning home early Thursday, cutting short an official visit to
Kazakhstan. He later presided over a meeting of his security chiefs, including
police and intelligence.
The security official said Jordan was exploring al-Qaida's involvement
because the attacks, which occurred nearly simultaneously, and the targets
carried the trademarks of the terror group.
The hotels, usually frequented by Israelis and Americans, have long been on
al-Qaida's hit list.
Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher said two suicide bombers
attacked the Hyatt and the nearby Radisson SAS. The Days Inn attack was carried
out by an explosives-laden vehicle that blew up outside the hotel after failing
to cross a police line.
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