Scores dead in three Amman hotel bombings; Israelis evacuated before attack

Scores dead in three Amman hotel bombings; Israelis evacuated before attack


By Yoav Stern and Zohar Blumenkrantz

Last Update: 10/11/2005 02:42



Bombs rocked three hotels in Amman late last night, killing at least
57 people and wounding more than 115 in apparent suicide attacks.
One of the hotels is known to be popular with Israeli tourists.

"There were three terrorist attacks on the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS
and Days Inn hotels, and it is believed that the blasts were suicide
bombings," police spokesman Major Bashir al-Da'aja told The
Associated Press. He declined to elaborate.


There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks.

A police official said the attacks were simultaneous and hit minutes
before 9 P.M. in two districts in the Jordanian capital, including
the commercial area of Jebel Amman and Al-Rabiyeh, which houses the
Israeli Embassy.

A number of Israelis staying yesterday at the Radisson SAS were
evacuated before the bombing by Jordanian security forces,
apparently due to a specific security alert. They were escorted back
to Israel by security personnel.

The Foreign Ministry stated yesterday that no Israeli tourists are
known to have been injured in the blasts. Representatives of
Israel's embassy in Amman were I contact with local authorities to
examine any report of injured Israelis, but none were received.
There are often a number of Israeli businessman and tourists in
Amman, including in the hotels hit yesterday.

Israel's counter-terror headquarters yesterday recommended Israeli
citizens not travel in Jordan. Travel recommendations regarding
Jordan were tightened a few months ago, but many Israelis still
visit the country. Many also visit other regions such as the
Jordanian Arava and the ancient city of Petra.

The first bomber, at 8:50 P.M. local time, struck the Grand Hyatt,
completely shattering the stone entrance. An AP reporter saw at
least seven bodies removed from the hotel and many more wounded
carried out on stretchers.

CNN reported an eyewitness saying the Jordanian prime minister's car
was at the Grand Hyatt at the time of the blast.

Police said a second explosion hit the nearby Radisson SAS hotel,
where about 250 people were attending a wedding reception. At least
five were killed and at least 20 wounded in that blast, believed to
have been caused by a bomb placed in a false ceiling, police sources
at the scene told Reuters.

The Radisson, in particular, is popular with Israeli tourists and
was a target of several foiled Al-Qaida plots in the past.

Police also reported a third explosion at the Days Inn Hotel in
Amman. There were also casualties at that hotel.

"The attacks carry the trademark of Al-Qaida," one police official
said on condition of anonymity in line with police
regulations. "However, it is not certain. We are investigating."

Ayman al-Safadi, editor of Jordan's Al-Ghad newspaper, told the Al-
Arabiya satellite network that it was a "terrorist operation."

"Finally, the terrorists succeeded in breaking the security in
Jordan," he said, referring to past success in foiling many terror
plots.

Jordan's King Abdullah II condemned the attack, saying, "Justice
will pursue the criminals" behind the Amman suicide attacks, CNN
reported. Abdullah, who was on an official visit to Kazakhstan, cut
short his trip and was returning home last night.

The Grand Hyatt and Radisson SAS hotels, in the commercial Jebel
Amman district, are located about one kilometer apart and are
frequented by American and European businessmen and diplomats. The
Days Inn is located three kilometers away.

An American businessman who was at the Grand Hyatt when the
explosion occurred said a "bomb that went off in the lobby." He
declined to identify himself.

"It was a miracle that we made it out with a scratch," said a
British guest at the Grand Hyatt.

"We thought it was fireworks for the wedding but I saw people
falling to the ground," said Ahmed, a wedding guest at the Radisson
who did not give his surname. "I saw blood. There were people
killed. It was ugly."

Jordan, a key ally of both the United States and Israel, had largely
escaped the terror attacks that have hit other parts of the Middle
East, and its sleepy capital, Amman, is viewed as a haven of
stability in the region.

But Jordan has not been entirely immune: On Aug. 19, militants fired
three Katyusha rockets at a U.S. Navy ship docked at the Red Sea
resort of Aqaba, narrowly missing it and killing a Jordanian
soldier.

Jordanian officials blamed that attack on Al-Qaida in Iraq, and
there have been growing worries that the violence in Iraq could
spill over into Jordan, where many Iraqi exiles have taken refuge
from the violence.