Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

120 arrested in Jordan bombings dragnet, say officials | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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A hotel employee wheels the wedding cake from the Philadelphia ballroom of the Radisson SAS Hotel in Amman, Jordan, on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2005, where a bomb ripped through the wedding party at approximately 9 p.m. on Wednesday night (AP)


A hotel employee wheels the wedding cake from the Philadelphia ballroom of the Radisson SAS Hotel in Amman, Jordan, on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2005, where a bomb ripped through the wedding party at approximately 9 p.m. on Wednesday night (AP)

A hotel employee wheels the wedding cake from the Philadelphia ballroom of the Radisson SAS Hotel in Amman, Jordan, on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2005, where a bomb ripped through the wedding party at approximately 9 p.m. on Wednesday night (AP)

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) – Police have arrested at least 120 people, mainly Iraqis and Jordanians, in the nationwide manhunt for those behind the triple Amman hotel bombings, a senior police official said Friday.

The death toll in the attacks rose to at least 60, including the bombers, with the death of Syrian-American film director Mustapha Akkad. He was 75 and has suffered serious injuries and a heart attack in the Wednesday attack, which the al-Qaida in Iraq terror group, headed by Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has claimed responsibility.

Thousands of Jordanians nationwide attended weekly Friday sermons in hundreds of mosques, which all performed special prayers &#34for the absent&#34 to commemorate the bombing victims.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan flew into Amman to meet Jordan”s King Abdullah II and the foreign minister. A second day of mass protests were expected to be held across Jordan to condemn the militants behind the attacks. On Thursday, thousands denounced al-Zarqawi and called for his death.

The police official had no details on the possible role of any of the 120 detained over Wednesday”s suicide bombings on the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn hotels, Jordan”s deadliest ever terror attacks and the first believed to have been carried out beyond Iraq”s borders by al-Qaida in Iraq.

&#34Scores have been rounded up in different parts of the country since the attacks,&#34 said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. &#34They”re of different nationalities, mainly Iraqis and Jordanians. The number of people interrogated now is 120.&#34

&#34We don”t know if any of them were involved in the attacks or assisted the suicide bombers,&#34 the official told The Associated Press. &#34Many may simply be innocent.&#34

There has been intense speculation in Jordan that Iraqi militants were behind the attacks. Al-Zarqawi has trained a special corps of at least 100 Iraqi suicide bombers to conduct attacks inside, and possibly outside, Iraq.

At least one of the three suicide bombers spoke to people inside the lobby of the Hyatt Hotel with an Iraqi accent before blowing himself up.

Jordan”s interior minister confirmed that police are quizzing suspects of &#34different nationalities, including Iraqis.&#34

&#34We”re gathering evidence which can lead us to the perpetrators,&#34 Interior Minister Awni Yirfas told the AP.

Yirfas did not say how many people had been detained not specify why or when they were arrested.

Akkad was with his 34-year-old American daughter, Rima Akkad Monla, in the lobby of the Hyatt hotel when the bomber struck, Jordanian TV said Friday. Akkad”s daughter died instantly in the attack.

Both lived in Los Angeles, but relatives said the elder Akkad will be buried Sunday in the Syrian city of Aleppo where he was born Sunday, while his daughter will be buried in Lebanon, where her husband comes from, according to relatives.

In figures released Friday, Jordanian officials said the dead included 38 Jordanians, many of Palestinian descent; four Iraqis; an Israeli-Arab; four Palestinians; three Chinese; a Qatari and one Lebanese. Several bodies have not yet been identified.

The U.S. Embassy said late Thursday that two Americans were killed in the attacks and four wounded. It was not immediately clear if that number included the Akkads.

Forensic experts have recovered most of the pieces of the faces, heads and necks of the three suicide bombers and reassembled them in a bid to get a clearer idea of who carried out the attacks, a police official said on condition of anonymity as he was unauthorized to speak to the media. DNA samples of also been taken for testing.

Thousands of police forces continued the manhunt Friday, setting up scores of checkpoints across the country and searching hundreds of vehicles.

A member of Jordan”s royal family has offered to host another wedding celebration for Ashraf Akhras and his wife, whose party at the Radisson hotel was the target of one of Wednesday”s bombings. At least 13 members of the Akhras family died in that attack.

Jordanian actors and singers also offered to perform at the wedding, while several also penned a new song called &#34Our Country,&#34 which they performed on morning TV Friday.

&#34We will not give into terrorism,&#34 sang prominent Jordanian performers Omar Abdullat and Diana Karazon.

Full-page messages of condolence and advertisements placed by Jordanians of all backgrounds pledging allegiance to Jordan”s monarch filled Friday newspapers.

Mosques across Jordan will conduct special &#34prayers for the absent&#34 to commemorate those who died. Jordanian actors and Stung by the Arab condemnations, al-Qaeda released a second Internet statement Thursday &#34to explain for Muslims part of the reason the holy warriors targeted these dens.&#34

Al-Zarqawi, sentenced to death in absentia here for terror crimes, is believed to have specially trained more than 100 Iraqi militants to carry out suicide bombing missions in Iraq and, possibly, elsewhere in the Middle East.

Significantly, the victims also included some two dozen Palestinians with roots in the West Bank. Among them was the West Bank”s intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Bashir Nafeh, a diplomat and a prominent banker. Many Jordanians and Palestinians have supported the Iraqi insurgency, but the hotel bombings could tip Arab sentiment against al-Zarqawi.

&#34So many of us lost friends but what is coming through the most is the outrage and the disbelief that any group could consider these kind of acts serve larger purposes,&#34 Jordan”s Queen Noor told CNN.

Jordanian military personnel inspect the damaged lobby of the Grand Hyatt hotel in Amman November 10, 2005 (REUTERS)

Jordanian military personnel inspect the damaged lobby of the Grand Hyatt hotel in Amman November 10, 2005 (REUTERS)

Queen Rania of Jordan wipes the tears of a wounded woman at a hospital in Amman, 10 November 2005 (AFP)

Queen Rania of Jordan wipes the tears of a wounded woman at a hospital in Amman, 10 November 2005 (AFP)