Suicide bombers shatter Jordan’s calm
At least 57 killed as hotels bombed Al Qaeda suspected in Amman attacks
JERUSALEM— Long an oasis of calm in a desert of regional instability, the Jordanian capital Amman is reeling today from a three- bomb barrage of suicide terror, the first of its kind to hit the tranquil Arab kingdom.
Near- simultaneous explosions at three of the city’s most popular international hotels left 57 dead and at least 115 wounded. The attacks came as a body blow to Jordan, one of America’s staunchest allies in the turbulent Middle East. There were no immediate claims of responsibility. But Jordanian officials and analysts said the highly co- ordinated onslaught bore the hallmarks of Al Qaeda and Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, the group’s Jordanianborn standard- bearer for the insurgency in neighbouring Iraq.
“ There is no other possibility: this was the work of Islamic groups. Al Qaeda or people very close to Al Qaeda,” Assem alOmari of the Jordanian Centre for Middle East Studies told the Toronto Star.
“ This crosses every red line for Jordanians, who have never before known the tool of suicide to be used against them. Beyond shock, the question now is
whether this is intended as a warning message or an actual declaration of war against the Jordanian regime,” he said. The first explosion came at 8: 50 p. m., tearing through the lobby of the five- star Grand Hyatt Amman. Within minutes, a second bomber ignited himself at the nearby Radisson SAS Hotel, where witnesses said a wedding party of Jordanians bore the brunt of the impact.
“ We thought it was fireworks for the wedding but I saw people falling to the ground,” Ahmed, a wedding guest who did not give his surname, told Reuters. “I saw blood. There were people killed. It was ugly.” A third bomb struck outside the four- star Days Inn, with four Chinese nationals among the casualties, according to witnesses. Though all three hotels are favoured by foreign guests, the overwhelming majority of those killed and injured appeared to be Jordanian. Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher said the Hyatt and Radisson were attacked by suicide bombers on foot. The Days Inn attack was carried out by an explosives-laden vehicle that blew up outside the hotel. Dan McTeague, the parliamentary secretary for Canadians abroad, said there were no reports of Canadians injured in the bombings.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II, cutting short an official visit to Kazakhstan, denounced the attacks as the work of “ a deviant and misled group.”
“ The hand of justice will get to the criminals who targeted innocent, secure civilians with their cowardly acts” Abdullah said in statement published by the state news agency Petra. Security was redoubled throughout the capital, with armed reinforcements focusing on hotels and diplomatic missions. Jordanian officials declared today a day of national mourning.
Reaction in Amman moved quickly from stunned disbelief to what one Jordanian journalist described as “rising anger and indignation” that suicide terror had visited what is arguably the Arab world’s calmest capital.
Several regional analysts described the attack as a body blow to the Jordanian regime. The immediate outcome is likely to be an intensified campaign of arrests by one of the region’s most capable, and by some accounts, ruthless, security apparatus.
“ If Jordan had one thing going for it, it was domestic security — and that is what is so disturbing,” said Asher Susser of Tel Aviv University, Israel’s foremost scholar on the history and politics of neighbouring Jordan.
“ They have managed until now to keep the instability beyond their borders, contained to the West Bank on one side and Iraq on the other. Despite their deep sense of geopolitical anxiety, Jordan managed to keep itself out of trouble.
“ But the real issue now is not just that something went horribly wrong, but that it happened in such a co- ordinated manner. Attacks such as this don’t succeed without considerably inside assistance. That is what the Jordanian authorities will be worrying about tomorrow,” said Susser. The Jordanian government has claimed success in foiling a series of attempted attacks by Al Qaeda, al- Zarqawi and affiliated domestic groups, including the breakup last year of a plot to unleash a chemical cloud over Amman. A voice claiming to be that of al- Zarqawi later denied the government’s accusation in a message posted on an Islamic Web site, saying the plot was not intended to harm innocent Muslims, but rather, to blow up Jordan’s intelligence headquarters “ to cut off the source of the black evil.”
“ God knows that if we
ever acquire such a
( chemical) weapon —
and we pray that we
will soon — we will use
it on Israeli cities like
Eilat and Tel Aviv,” the voice said at the time. Everyday Jordanians interview by the Star over the past two years have expressed discomfort with their government’s staunch backing of the U. S.- led campaign in Iraq. Jordan’s dominant Sunni Muslim population, more than half of which is of Palestinian descent, is clearly empathetic to the plight of the insurgency- backing Sunni minority in neighbouring Iraq. Some analysts suggested such grassroots support for the insurgency next door could waver as the country absorbs the number of innocent Jordanians killed last night. Similar attacks in Saudi Arabia targeting civilians have already served to undermine and isolate the proponents of terror there, they said. But Jordanian commentator Omari said many Jordanians are likely to view the bombings as “ a reaction to several years of provocation by the Jordanian security forces.”
“ I think some people are going to see this as payback for the government’s very arrogant approach to security,” he said. “The Jordanian regime has tried to play a very broad security role with regard to Iraq, and it has put them in conflict with all of the Islamic movements in the region. Some people are going to see this as punishment for a whole policy they see as unreasonable.”