Al Qaeda claims Jordan blasts

AMMAN - The al Qaeda group led by America's deadliest foe in Iraq has claimed responsibility for three suicide bombings that ripped through luxury hotels in Jordan's capital and killed 56 people.

In Wednesday night's near-simultaneous attacks, two suicide bombers turned crowded wedding parties into scenes of blood and panic at the Grand Hyatt and the nearby Radisson SAS in central Amman. A third attacker targeted a Days Inn hotel.

"The operation was executed by three suicide bombers who were wearing explosive belts. Two entered the hotels, the other blew himself up outside the hotel in a car," Deputy Prime Minister Marwan al-Muasher told a news conference.

He said the blasts killed 56 people and wounded 96. A cabinet statement earlier put the toll at 57 dead and 110 hurt.

Al Qaeda in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said in a statement on an Islamist website that "a group of our best lions" had carried out the attacks, the worst to hit Jordan in its modern history.

"Some hotels were chosen which the Jordanian despot had turned into a backyard for the enemies of the faith, the Jews and crusaders," said the message in a reference to King Abdullah. Its authenticity could not be verified.

Most victims were Jordanians. China said three of its nationals were among those killed. A Palestinian diplomat said a senior Palestinian officer and two other officials had died.

Police spokesman Bashir al-Da'jeh said five Iraqis, a Saudi and an Indonesian were also among the dead. One American was killed and one wounded, a US embassy spokesman said.

The hotels are frequented by Western security contractors, journalists and aid agency staff, many of whom use Amman as a transit point or base for their operations in Iraq.

Amman also hosts some 400,000 Iraqis who have fled their troubled homeland, bringing their wealth with them.

The United States has put a US$25 million($36.98 million) bounty on Zarqawi, who comes from a town north of Amman.

King Abdullah blamed a "deviant and misled group". Foreign Minister Farouq Kasrawi said the attacks would not alter the policies of the kingdom, which is a close US ally.

Jordan is one of two Arab countries that have signed peace treaties with Israel. It helped the United States in the war on Iraq. King Abdullah is a frequent visitor to the White House.

Its stance is praised more in the West than at home, where the US-led war in Iraq and Washington's support for Israeli are much resented by Jordan's majority Palestinian population.

Jordan had previously escaped major attacks. The authorities say their vigilance has foiled many earlier bomb plots.

"This is a worldwide evil," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, visiting Jordan on his way to Iraq, told reporters at the devastated Hyatt hotel. "Jordan's determination to fight this terrorism is our determination too," he added.

Jordan briefly shut its borders to stop suspects escaping. A security official said scores of arrests had been made.

The US embassy in Amman advised Americans to stay in their hotel rooms as much as possible and to avoid restaurants, night clubs or other locations perceived to be Western targets."

Schools, businesses and public offices closed as the stunned kingdom mourned the dead. Security forces threw up roadblocks around hotels and embassies. Flags flew at half-mast.

"I was eating with friends in the restaurant next to the bar when I saw a huge ball of fire shoot up to the ceiling and then everything went black," said a French UN official, who was at the Hyatt. "It caused absolute devastation."

US President George W Bush, Pope Benedict and many other world leaders condemned the attacks.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said after meeting the Pope that the bombings might serve as a wake-up call for Jordanians.

"I hope these crimes will show the real face of the terrorists to all Jordanian people because unfortunately there are still some groups in Jordan supporting terrorist criminals, describing them as resistance and they are deceived by these claims," he told a news conference in Rome.

The explosion at the Radisson tore through a banqueting room where about 250 people were at a wedding reception.

"I was getting married, it was my wedding," the distraught groom, Ashraf al-Akhras, told Reuters. The 32-year-old lost 10 family members, including his father, in the blast.

A smaller wedding was taking place at the Hyatt.

About 300 people waving Jordanian flags and portraits of King Abdullah protested near the Radisson on Thursday. "Zarqawi, you are scum," read one placard carried by the protesters.

In August, Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for a failed rocket attack on US Navy ships in Jordan's Aqaba port.

Zarqawi was jailed in Jordan for 15 years in 1996, but was freed three years later under an amnesty by King Abdullah.

Iraq's interior minister said last month that documents found with a slain Zarqawi aide revealed a plan to send some foreign militants home to widen the battlefield beyond Iraq.

- REUTERS