Al-Qaida Claims 'Credit' for Jordan Blasts
PakistanTimes.net Monitoring Desk

AMMAN (Jordan): 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 a Web site that acts as a clearing house for statements by militant groups.

King Chairs Meeting

King Abdullah II 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 Victims

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 a foreign news agency.

Israel's Foreign Ministry confirmed that an Israeli was killed in the bombings, but had no other details. The government held al- Qaida's chief in Iraq, the Jordanian-born Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, who heads the al-Qaida in Iraq group, responsible 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.

Prime Suspect

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 King 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.●