World

Suspects Snared In Jordan Attacks

November 10, 2005 / 7:19 PM EST / CBS/AP

Jordanian security forces snared a group of Iraqi suspects in the triple hotel bombings that killed at least 59 people, and officials said Thursday one of the bombers spoke Iraqi-accented Arabic before he exploded his suicide belt in the Grand Hyatt Hotel.

Thousands of protesters marched through the capital and other cities chanting for Jordanian-born terror fugitive Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, to "burn in hell." The terror organization claimed responsibility for Jordan's deadliest ever terror strikes.

The claim should come as no surprise, reports CBS News correspondent David Hawkins. The one, two, three punch of attacks is becoming recognizable as al Qaeda's signature — plus, they'd tried this before.

U.S. intelligence sources tell CBS News that last summer, Jordanian security arrested a number of people suspected of planning attacks on Western hotels here.

The U.S. Embassy said one American citizen was among the 59 people killed in Wednesday's bombings, a total that included the three suicide attackers who struck the Hyatt, the Radisson SAS and the Days Inn hotels.

"Death to al-Zarqawi, the villain and the traitor!" Honking vehicles decorated with Jordanian flags and posters of King Abdullah II cruised Amman's streets until late in the night.

About 50 people, including Jordanian children holding tiny flags, placed candles on a makeshift sand memorial in the driveway of the Hyatt Hotel.

All three U.S.-based hotels attacked by suicide bombers were the site of hundreds-strong protests Thursday, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger (audio). They shouted, "Burn in hell, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi!" after the terrorist's group claimed responsibility for the blasts, and carried flags and posters of King Abdullah II.

In related developments:

In an apparent response to Jordanians who took to the streets to call for its leader to "burn in hell," al Qaeda in Iraq late Thursday took the rare step of trying to justify the triple suicide bombings. Earlier Thursday, the group posted a Web statement claiming responsibility, a move that was not unexpected. But late in the day and after Arab-wide expressions of outrage, a second al Qaeda statement appeared on the Internet "to explain for Muslims part of the reason holy warriors targeted these dens."

From a statement by Special FBI Agent Richard Kolko: "At the request of the Jordanian government, the FBI is sending a small element of personnel from our laboratory division to assist with their investigation."

In Washington, President Bush said the attackers defiled Islam and the United States would help bring those responsible to justice. "The killings should remind all of us that there is an enemy in this world that is willing to kill innocent people, willing to bomb a wedding celebration in order to advance their cause," Mr. Bush said during a meeting with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen.

Mr. Bush spoke by telephone Thursday morning with King Abdullah, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Knoller and conveyed U.S. condolences on the loss of life in the hotel bombings.

The timing of the attacks is triggering some interest. Jordanians have been sending each other text messages, pointing out that yesterday's date was 9/11. That's because in the Middle East, the month is listed before the date. A Jordanian government spokesman declined to speculate on any meaning it may have.

In Rome, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani condemned the Amman attacks but said they put Jordan on notice against harboring militants. "Unfortunately there are still some groups in Jordan supporting terrorist criminals," said Talabani.

At the United Nations, the U.N. Islamic Conference said that the killing of innocent civilians in the name of Islam constitutes terrorism and deserves the harshest punishment, CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk reports.

New York police have quietly stepped up their presence in and around major hotels, a day after bombs ripped through three hotels in Amman. Heavily-armed Hercules units swept through several hotels. CBS News affiliate CBS2 has learned the NYPD has selected two-dozen hotels in Manhattan for special protection, Brendan Keefe reports. Authorities say there's been no specific threat and few guests would admit to feeling unsafe after the attacks in Jordan. But a veteran doorman at one hotel, the Grand Hyatt, said he could sense more caution in the eyes of visitors.

One of the nearly simultaneous blasts tore through a banquet hall at the Radisson Hotel, where 300 guests were celebrating the wedding of a Jordanian-Palestinian couple.

Ashraf and Nadia Da'as had delayed their wedding so that family and friends from all over the Middle East could attend, Hawkins reports. Their fathers both flew in from Kuwait for this day. Both men were killed in the blast.

At least 13 members of the Akhras family died in the attack.

In the Palestinian West Bank village of Silet al-Thaher, Akhras family members mourned their relatives slain during the wedding party.

"Oh my God, oh my God. Is it possible that Arabs are killing Arabs, Muslims killing Muslims? For what did they do that?" screamed 35-year-old Najah Akhras, who lost two nieces in the attack.

A senior security official linked the bombings to Jordan's war-ravaged eastern neighbor, saying the Hyatt bomber spoke with an Iraqi accent and several other Iraqis have been detained.

Security staff patrolling the Hyatt stopped the middle-aged terrorist as he was wandering the lobby. He spoke briefly to the guards before detonating the explosives strapped underneath his Western-style suit, the official said on condition of anonymity because he was unauthorized to speak to the media.

"Among those arrested there were different nationalities, including Iraqis and other Arabs, and not only Jordanians," the official added.

Al-Zarqawi is believed to have trained at least 100 Iraqi suicide bombers as a special martyrdom corps to continue his group's war inside Iraq and, possibly, elsewhere in the Middle East.

While Jordanian security authorities have extensive networks tracking local militants, keeping tabs on Iraqis is believed to be much harder, particularly because nearly 1 million Iraqis have taken refuge in the country. The king said his nation was targeted because it was committed to "fighting the terrorists who are killing innocents in the name of Islam."

"We will pursue those criminals and those behind them and we will get to them wherever they are," Abdullah said in nationally televised speech. "We will bring them out from their holes and bring them to justice."

Al-Zarqawi's group, which has claimed responsibility for previous attacks in Jordan, including the 2002 assassination of U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley, said the hotel 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."

The claim said Jordan was targeted because it was "a backyard garden for the enemies of the religion, Jews and crusaders ... a filthy place for the traitors ... and a center for prostitution."

Jordan is one of the United States' closest Mideast allies and has fought a long-running battle against Islamic extremists opposed to its 1994 peace deal with Israel.

The dead included 33 Jordanians, six Iraqis, one Indonesian, two Bahrainis, two Chinese and one Saudi. The identities of 14 slain victims have not yet been identified, according to Jordanian government figures.