Hotel blasts kill 57
2005-11-10 07:50
Jamal Halaby
Amman - Suicide bombers carried out nearly simultaneous attacks on three United States-based hotels in the Jordanian capital on Wednesday night, killing at least 57 people and wounding at least 115 in an al-Qaeda-style assault on the Arab kingdom with close ties to the United States and a border with Iraq.
Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher said most of those killed were Jordanians but did not give a full breakdown of nationalities in the strikes in the explosions that rocked the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn hotels just before 21:00.
Muasher said there was no claim of responsibility but that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, was a "prime suspect."
A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to address the media, said the dead included at least three Asians, possibly Chinese. He said the injured were of different nationalities, including Germans, a US citizen of Arab origin, Egyptians, Saudis and Iraqis.
Annan condemned attacks
Famed Syrian movie director Mustafa Aqad was among the injured and his daughter was killed, the official added.
Initial police reports showed that the suicide bomber at the Grand Hyatt was possibly Iraqi, the official said. He said the middle-aged man, strapped with explosives under his Western-style suit, was stopped by suspicious security officials in the hotel's lobby.
Speaking in an Iraqi accent, the man said he was "looking around," and then blew himself up, the official added, saying hotel cameras had some shots of him.
Muasher said Jordan's land borders had been sealed and there are "more measures which will be undertaken soon." He did not elaborate.
He said there had been no arrests yet, though security forces had fanned out across the capital and roads were closed. A security official said authorities were hunting suspects believed to have assisted in the attacks or looking for a potential sleeper cell that could carry out more attacks.
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.
Muasher said most of the victims at the Radisson were Jordanians attending a wedding banquet in a ground-floor reception hall, where a man strapped with explosives infiltrated the crowd.
"We thought it was fireworks for the wedding but I saw people falling to the ground," said Ahmed, a wedding guest who did not give his surname. "I saw blood. There were people killed. It was ugly."
The groom suffered serious injuries; the bride was not hurt.
King Abdullah II - who cut short an official visit to Kazakhstan and was returning home Wednesday night - condemned the attacks.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is on a trip in the Middle East, strongly condemned the bombings.
- AFP