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E-mailJordan's king asks global terror fight
The devastating strike was masterminded by Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, signaling his group is able to launch terror attacks outside war-ravaged Iraq. Abdullah called al-Zarqawi a growing threat to the Middle East and put the international community on notice that it must cooperate to fight terrorists.
"Terrorism is a sick and cross-border phenomenon. Therefore, eradicating it is the whole world's responsibility," he told the state-run Petra news agency. "The body parts we saw in Amman we see every day in brotherly Iraq and have also seen in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and other countries around the world."
Abdullah later told CNN that four suicide bombers carried out Wednesday's attacks, suggesting one was the "spouse" of another militant. His remarks seemed to confirm al-Qaida in Iraq's claim that a husband and wife were among the bombers.
"I think that to walk into the lobby of a hotel to see a wedding procession and to take your wife or your spouse with you into that wedding and to blow yourself up (showed) these people are insane," Abdullah said.
He said initial findings coupled with the al-Qaida claim suggested the bombers were Iraqi. Police said yesterday that the bombers who attacked the Grand Hyatt and Days Inn hotels spoke with Iraqi accents.
"So there are only two logistical places that they could have come across -- either the Iraqi or the Syrian borders," he said.
Muasher said police were still interrogating 12 suspects believed linked to the attacks on the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn hotels, while "many others" currently detained -- mostly Jordanians and Iraqis -- soon may be released.
Security forces have scrambled to step up security in hotels in Amman and across the country as police detained more people in Jordan's largest manhunt in modern history. Police also are searching for eight vehicles -- two with Iraqi license plates -- believed linked to the attacks, Jordan's deadliest ever.
Police are investigating the theory that two bombs -- one attached to a suicide attacker and another a package full of ball bearings -- exploded during a wedding at the Radisson attended by almost 300 Jordanians and Palestinians.
Many of those killed and maimed in the Radisson attack suffered wounds caused by ball bearings, indicating that the bomber's TNT-packed belt was not the only explosive device used, a senior police official said yesterday on condition of anonymity.
Any TNT would have had to have been smuggled into Jordan because it is not available here, the official added.
Other details emerged about the Days Inn strike. Minutes before detonating his bomb, the attacker became angry when staff asked him to move from the area where he was sitting, which was designated for families and not single men.
"The man ... started mumbling words in an Iraqi accent that the waiter believed were insults before leaving the hotel," the senior police official said.
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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