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Angry Jordanians rally to protest bombings
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-11 08:34 Other members of the Akhras family were wounded, including two U.S. citizens
who live in the Caribbean island of St. Thomas, said Nader Akhras of Arlington,
Texas.
Al-Qaida in Iraq, which appears to be expanding its operations outside of
Iraq, said the bombings put the United States on notice that the "backyard camp
for the Crusader army is now in the range of fire of the holy warriors."
But later Thursday, in an apparent response to the protests, al-Zarqawi's
group took the rare step of trying "to explain for Muslims part of the reason
the holy warriors targeted these dens."
"Let all know that we have struck only after becoming confident that they are
centers for launching war on Islam and supporting the Crusaders' presence in
Iraq and the Arab peninsula and the presence of the Jews on the land of
Palestine," al-Qaida in Iraq said in an Internet statement, the authenticity of
which could not be immediately verified.
A Jordanian family
lights candles outside Amman's Grand Hyatt hotel in central Amman November
10, 2005.[Reuters] | Al-Zarqawi's group has
claimed responsibility for previous attacks in Jordan, including the 2002
assassination of U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley. Jordan, a moderate Arab nation,
has fought a long-running battle against Islamic extremists opposed to its 1994
peace deal with Israel.
In addition to the two Americans, the dead included 33 Jordanians, many with
families ties to the Palestinian West Bank; six Iraqis; two
Bahrainis; three Chinese; one Indonesian; and one Saudi. The others had not
yet been identified. Officials said the death toll of 59 — which includes the
three attackers — could rise because several of the 100 or so wounded victims
were seriously hurt.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani condemned the Amman attacks and said they put
Jordan on notice against harboring militants.
"Unfortunately there are still some groups in Jordan supporting terrorist
criminals, describing them as the resistance, and they are deceived by their
claims," Talabani said in Rome.
Two daughters of ousted leader Saddam Hussein now live in Jordan, as do many
other wealthy and formerly powerful Iraqis.
"I hope that these attacks will wake up the `Jordanian street' to end their
sympathy with Saddam's remnants ... who exploit the freedom in this country to
have a safe shelter to plot their criminal acts against Iraqis," Iraqi
government spokesman Laith Kubba said.
He also said Iraqis may have had a hand in the attacks.
"The al-Qaida organization has become as a plague that affected Iraq and is
now transmitted by the same rats to other countries. A lot of Iraqis, especially
former intelligence and army officers, joined this criminal cell," Kubba said.
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