November 9, 2005

Breaking News: Multiple Suicide Attacks in Jordan

Breaking news out of Jordan, where multiple suicide attacks struck three hotels in the capital city of Amman. Early reports are that there are anywhere between 18 and 23 people dead and over 100 wounded. This number is likely to increase as more information comes in. As it stands, here's the latest from AP at 4 p.m. Wednesday:

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - Suicide bombers attacked three hotels
frequented by Westerners in the Jordanian capital Wednesday night,
and at least 18 people were killed and 120 wounded, police said.
Maj. Bashir al-Da'aja said officials believe all three blasts
were carried out by suicide bombers. The explosions indicated the
involvement of al-Qaida, which has launched coordinated attacks on
high-profile, Western targets in the past, a police official said.
The first blast was reported at about 8:50 p.m. at the luxury
Grand Hyatt hotel, popular with tourists and diplomats, and
completely shattered its stone entrance.
Associated Press reporter Jamal Halaby, who was at the hotel,
counted seven bodies being taken away and many more wounded being
carried out on stretchers. Prime Minister Adnan Badran later
arrived at the scene.
A few minutes later, police reported an explosion at the
Radisson SAS Hotel a short distance away. Police said five people
were killed and at least 20 were wounded in the blast at a wedding
hall where at least 300 people were celebrating. The hotel is
popular with American and Israeli tourists and was the target of a
plot in 2000.
"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."
Dana Burde, from New York, was in the lobby of the Radisson at
the time of that explosion.
"We were sort of blown out of the room, but the wall sort of
caved in," Burde told CNN. "There was a lot of debris, certainly
people were killed."
A third explosion was reported at the Days Inn Hotel, and police
said there were casualties.
At the Grand Hyatt, an American businessman said the explosion
occurred in the lobby of the five-star hotel. Witnesses saw smoke
rising from the building.
The Grand Hyatt Amman has 316 guest rooms and 50 luxury
residential apartments in the adjoining Hyatt Tower. The hotel,
with a beige-and-cream facade and a shiny gold revolving door, is
located in the heart of Amman's business and diplomatic district on
Hussein Bin Ali Street.
The five-star Radisson SAS Hotel has 260 guest rooms. Its main
entrance is covered by a white portico with several dozen
international flags lining the top.
Jordan, a close U.S. ally, has arrested scores of Islamic
militants for plotting to carry out attacks in the moderate Arab
kingdom. It has also sentenced numerous militants to death in
absentia, including the Jordanian-born leader of al-Qaida in Iraq,
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
In July, prosecutors indicted five Jordanians in an alleged
conspiracy to attack intelligence agents, tourists and hotels in
Amman. Al-Zarqawi has not been linked to the alleged plot.
U.S. officials believe al-Zarqawi and bin Laden operations chief
Abu Zubaydah were chief organizers of a foiled plot to bomb the
Radisson SAS.
The attack was to take place during millennium celebrations, but
Jordanian authorities stopped it in late 1999. Abu Zubaydah was
captured in March 2002 in Faisalabad, Pakistan, in a raid by the
CIA, FBI and Pakistani authorities. Al-Zarqawi remains at large.
The last major terror attack blamed on Islamic militants was the
July 7 bombings of the London transit system that killed 56 people,
including four bombers. The most recent major attack linked to
al-Qaida was the Madrid subway bombings that killed 191 people on March 11, 2004.

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