Triple Terror At Jordan Hotels

According to an Internet posting reported on Arab TV, the terrorist group al Qaeda in Iraq is claiming responsibility for Wednesday night's nearly simultaneous suicide bombs at three Amman, Jordan, hotels with well-known American names.

The bombs, which hit at about 9 p.m. at the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn hotels, killed at least 56 people and wounded more than 115 other people.

The al Qaeda claim, posted on a militant Internet site, said Jordan became a target 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."

The statement is attributed to the spokesman for al Qaeda in Iraq, a group led by the Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Its authenticity could not be immediately determined, but it appeared on a site routinely used by al Qaeda operatives.

"I think there is no question but they (al Qaeda) were responsible," said terrorism expert Neil Livingstone on CBS News' The Early Show. "Whether it's an affiliate group such as the al-Zarqawi movement in Iraq, which is probably attempting right now to open a second front, or whether it got some direction actually from al Qaeda itself, it's really not material to this. It's all part and parcel to the same movement."

The statement said the attacks 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."

CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier reports that al-Zarqawi has become Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant in Iraq, a mastermind of some of the deadliest violence the region has ever seen. His path towards terror started at a Jordanian prison. There he was first indoctrinated by militant extremists, which led to his alleged involvement in the 2002 killing of Lawrence Foley, then executive officer of US Aid in Amman, outside the official's home in Amman.

In February, U.S. intelligence indicated that bin Laden was in contact with al-Zarqawi, enlisting him to conduct attacks outside of Iraq, noted another U.S. counterterrorism official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity. Jordan has arrested scores of Islamic militants for plotting to carry out attacks and has also sentenced many militants to death in absentia, including al-Zarqawi.

The first and possibly the worst of the three bombings occurred at the Radisson Hotel, reports CBS News correspondent David Hawkins. A suicide bomber blew himself up in the in middle of a wedding party there moments before the arrival of the bride and bridegroom.

"We thought it was fireworks for the wedding but I saw people falling to the ground," said Ahmed, a wedding guest at the five-star Radisson who did not give his surname. "I saw blood. There were people killed. It was ugly."

A government spokesman said the victims included 15 Jordanians, five Iraqis, one Saudi, one Palestinian, three Chinese, one Indonesian; 30 others hadn't been identified. A State Department official says so far there are no known American casualties.

The United Nations Security Council has called a special session for Thursday morning to discuss the bombings and Secretary General Kofi Annan, who was to travel to Jordan Thursday, has cancelled his trip, reports CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst Pamela Falk.

CBS News reporter Kristen Gillespie, who lives a block away from the hotels, was on the scene soon after the explosions. As bodies were being removed from the hotels, dozens of guests milled around,

The Radisson is popular with American and Israeli tourists and was a target of several foiled al Qaeda plots, including a conspiracy to attack U.S. and Israeli tourists during the kingdom's millennium celebrations. Israel's ambassador to Jordan, Yaakov Hadas, told Israel TV from Amman there were no reports of Israeli casualties.

The third explosion, at the Days Inn, happened after a car packed with explosives approached the hotel, according to deputy prime minister Marwan Muasher. He said the car could not cross a protective barrier so it detonated outside. As a result, the casualties at the Days Inn were not as extensive as at the other hotels.

The three hotels have security guards hired from a private Jordanian firm stationed in the reception areas. Each of the hotels has one or two police cars guarding the buildings around the clock, but it's not enough, says Livingstone, CEO of the security firm Global Options.

"I go into that region. And I will tell you there are many hotels in the Middle East, in the Gulf area and so on, that have almost no security whatsoever," he told Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen. "They need better security and they need to really crack down on Islamic dissidents inside these countries, because they've tolerated them in the past and this is what happens."

King Abdullah II cut short his official visit to Kazakhstan in order to return home.

"The hand of justice," said the king, "will get to the criminals, who targeted innocent secure civilians with their cowardly acts."

Abdullah is going to crack down," said Livingstone. "They have a strong security apparatus in Jordan already."

"They can learn from the Saudi example," Livingstone said. "Eighteen months ago the Saudis were on the hot seat. That was going to be the second front. Now the Saudis cracked down very, very strongly against the cells that were in Saudi Arabia at the time. And it's been very quiet there ever since. I think that's what Abdullah is going to do in Jordan."

Police continued a broad security lockdown and authorities sent DNA samples for testing to identify the attackers. Land borders were reopened after being closed for nearly 12 hours.