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Topic: Deadly explosions rock hotels in Jordan (Read 149 times)

AmberJ
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Deadly explosions rock hotels in Jordan
« on: Nov 9^th, 2005, 5:33pm »

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This makes me want to cry Sad

(partially because I am going there in 8 months) So sad it makes me so very sad Cry

AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- Three nearly simultaneous explosions occurred Wednesday night at hotels frequented by westerners in downtown Amman, killing at least 67 people and wounding more than 100 others, the deputy prime minister of Jordan said.

There have been no claims of responsibility, Karim Kawar, the Jordanian ambassador to the United States, told CNN.

The blasts occurred at the Radisson, the Days Inn Hotel and the Grand Hyatt Hotel between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. (2 p.m. and 3 p.m. ET). The three hotels are within a few hundred yards of each other.

Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher said the largest blast occurred at the Radisson during a wedding celebration, set off by a suicide bomber wearing a belt packed with explosives. Most of the casualties there were Jordanian, he said. (Watch eyewitness describes the scene -- 2:46)

The blast at the Grand Hyatt also appeared to have been caused by a bomber wearing an explosive belt, he said.

The Days Inn blast occurred when a car failed in an attempt to breach a security barrier and exploded outside the hotel, he said.

"This has come as a shock to all of us," Kawar told CNN. He added, "We try to be as vigilant as possible but, at the end of the day, we're all vulnerable to such attacks."

In a written statement, the Hyatt said its management team is "working to assure the safety and relocation of guests," given that authorities had evacuated the hotel.

Dozens of ambulances were lined outside the hotels, loading up and speeding off, their sirens wailing.

The hotels were evacuated and security officials set up cordons around them.

At Khalidi Hospital, near the affected zone, Dr. Khalid Salayman said five people had died there and 12 were wounded, 10 of them lightly.

Among the casualties were Iraqis and Germans, he said.

American Dana Burde said she was in the lobby of the Radisson when the blast there occurred -- apparently inside a nearby banquet hall, where a wedding party was celebrating.

"We were sort of blown out of the room, but our group is all fine," she said.

"There was a lot of debris and, certainly, there were people killed," said Burde, a New Yorker who is in Amman attending a conference on refugee education.

She said she heard an explosion at the nearby Hyatt five minutes after the blast at the Radisson.

King condemns attacks
An Italian businessman who was in the Hyatt said he saw three apparently lifeless bodies there.

Jordanian Embassy officials in Washington said the blasts came without warning and that no Jordanian government officials were in any of the buildings.

Prime Minister Adnan Badran told Jordanian television that all government offices and schools would be closed Thursday.

Soon after the attacks, Jordanian King Abdullah condemned them, telling reporters, "Justice will pursue the criminals."

The king also vowed that Jordan "will be resilient," Kawar said. An emergency Cabinet meeting was called.

Prior to the millennium celebrations, the Radisson was the target of a plot that was broken up by Jordanian law enforcement.

Jordan helps train Iraqi troops and is host to the headquarters of many international aid agencies that pulled relief workers out of Iraq as the insurgency there deepened.

It also is the homeland of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of al Qaeda in Iraq and that country's most-wanted terrorist.

In August an al Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility for rocket attacks that targeted but missed two U.S. warships in the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba.

In that attack, two rockets struck a warehouse and a hospital in Aqaba, killing a Jordanian soldier, while a third struck the nearby Israeli port city of Eilat.

U.S. offers help
Jordanian authorities said the attackers were in contact with insurgent leaders in Iraq, who were kept informed of their progress.

In Amman, U.S. Embassy spokesman Michael Pelletier told CNN that personnel have been called to the embassy for urgent meetings.

"Right now, we're trying to get whatever information we can to get the details of what's going on," he said. U.S. officials had no details on the number of casualties or whether Americans might be among them, he said.

In Washington, a White House spokesman said the administration knew of no U.S. casualties .The State Department, which had not recently issued travel warnings for Americans visiting Jordan, offered to help Jordanians investigate the bombings.

The United States has proposed sending a team of FBI agents to help determine details of the attacks, such as what type of explosives were used.

Asked who is suspected of masterminding the attacks, one State Department official cited al-Zarqawi.

Two U.S. intelligence officials concurred that the attacks bear the hallmarks of al-Zarqawi, who has expressed an interest in launching attacks outside Iraq.

CNN's Hala Gorani contributed to this report.

Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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