Jordanians take a day to mourn, show anger
AMMAN, Jordan – Waving national flags and pictures of their king, Jordanians took to the streets in a show of defiant anger over the suicide bombings at three hotels in the nation’s capital for which Islamic militants in Iraq purportedly claimed responsibility Thursday.
An official day of mourning closed government offices and businesses and gave stunned residents an opportunity to express their outrage at Wednesday’s suicide bombings, which left 56 people dead, dozens more injured, and shattered Jordan’s carefully groomed image as an isle of calm in an otherwise turbulent region.
Flags few at half-staff and radio stations played patriotic songs throughout the day while motorists honked and marchers held banners condemning terrorism amid a series of modestly sized rallies in Amman and in countryside villages. Wearing red checkered kaffiyehs, youthful demonstrators chanted their allegiance to King Abdullah II and denounced Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida-affiliated Jordanian national whose Iraq-based militant group is believed responsible for the blasts.
A statement said to have been written by al-Zarqawi’s group and posted on an Islamist Web site took responsibility for the attacks, but the validity of the claim could not be verified. The group tied the attacks to its fight against U.S. forces in Iraq. Amman is a key stopover for officials and contractors on their way to Iraq, and the three hotels that were hit were known to be frequented by Westerners.
More than half of those killed in the blasts, 33, were Jordanians, Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher said Thursday. Others killed included six Iraqis, two Bahrainis, two Chinese and an Indonesian, Syrian, Saudi, and American.
Authorities said several people had been detained, but they did not say whether those people were suspects or were being questioned as witnesses. Some news reports said Iraqi nationals were among those held, but police said they would not disclose the identities or nationalities of those detained because the probe was still in its early phases.
Muasher said authorities had concluded that remains of the suicide bombers were found along with the 56 victims. He said investigators hoped to identify the suspected bombers through DNA.
Several U.S. counterterrorism officials said that all preliminary indications point to the attack being the work of the militant network run by al-Zarqawi, called al-Qaida in Iraq.
The king on Thursday vowed a stiff fight to bring those responsible to justice.