Jordan Times
Tuesday, April 6, 2004
US closes Amman-Baghdad
highway
AMMAN (JT) Government Spokesperson Asma Khader said on Monday that the US
closure of highways connecting Amman with Baghdad was a temporary measure. The
step was probably taken due to ongoing tension in the area [especially in the
western towns of Fallujah and Ramadi], she said in her weekly press conference.
I do not think the closure will last for long as these roads are very vital for
Jordanian-Iraqi trade movement as well as for international assistance heading
to Iraq from Jordan, she said. Agence France-Presse quoted US officials in
Baghdad as saying: The highways (1 and 10) from Baghdad to Jordan will be
closed indefinitely due to military activities. Intensified US military
measures in the western part of Iraq, especially in Fallujah, came after four US
civilian contractors were ambushed last week and later the bodies of two of them
were hacked and mutilated, the agency reported.