Jordan Times
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Authorities interrogate
12 suspects
Al Qaeda says 4 Iraqis, including husband and wife, carried out suicide bombings
By Alia Shukri Hamzeh
AMMAN — Security forces have arrested scores of suspects believed to be
connected with Wednesday's suicide bombings that were claimed by Al Qaeda in
Iraq, informed sources said Friday.
“There were ongoing arrests and we will not hesitate to interrogate any
suspected individual,” said a security official. The official refused to state
the exact number of arrested suspects or their nationality, but did not deny
that those who were rounded up were more than 150.
The Associated Press reported Friday 120 arrests, mainly Iraqis and Jordanians.
But in his press conference, Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher confirmed 12
arrests and did not elaborate on their nationalities. However, the security
official, who noted that the number of those detained kept changing because many
have been released after questioning, said the arrests included Iraqi nationals.
Al Qaeda said Friday that four Iraqis, including a husband and wife, carried out
the suicide bombings against the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn hotels,
killing 57 people and injuring 96. The death toll of the three suicide bombings
rose to 57 after Hollywood film director Mustafa Akkad died of sustained
injuries early Friday.
In a statement posted on the Internet, Al Qaeda in Iraq, led by fugitive Abu
Mussab Zarqawi, said the group charged with planning and implementing the
attacks was made up of three men identified as “commanders Abu Khabib, Abu Muath
and Abu Omaira.” The fourth perpetrator was identified as “the venerable sister
Um Omaira.”
“Um Omaira chose to follow her husband Abu Omaira on the path of martyrdom,”
said the statement, whose authenticity was not verified.
Muasher said Al Qaeda was still the prime suspect, adding that the attacks were
carried out according to the group's pattern.
“But I cannot confirm that until the results of the investigations are out,” he
said.
Muasher told a press conference that forensic experts were still examining
evidence as well as conducting DNA tests on the remains of the three men
believed to be the bombers. He added that investigators had not found evidence
to indicate that there was a fourth bomber, saying police were examining
security videos from cameras in the hotels.
Agence France-Presse quoted a hospital source as saying that the head of a woman
believed to be a suicide bomber had been found among the remains of victims at
one hotel. “We received a woman's head and mangled body remains,” the source
told AFP.
“This usually is the case when you are dealing with a suicide, the body is
ripped apart and often the head is intact.”
But according to Momen Hadidi, the chief of staff of Forensic Medicine and head
of the investigation team of autopsies, the decapitated head was that of a
15-year- old girl who has already been identified and buried by her family.
Hadidi said the girl was decapitated because she was standing close to the
suicide bomber.
He added that his team of forensic experts were thoroughly examining the
dismembered body parts of those who were blown up by the explosions and were
carrying out chemistry and biology tests.
“We are very close to identifying all the dismembered people,” he said, adding
that descriptive indicators of the parts of the suicide bombers so far revealed
that they were males.
“We are waiting for the tests results to come up to be sure,” Hadidi added.
Eyewitnesses and employees of both the Grand Hyatt and Days Inn hotels said they
spoke to the bombers, who had an Iraqi accent.
A Grand Hyatt staffer said he saw a suspicious looking man nervously pacing
back-and-forth and that he asked him if he was looking for someone, only to be
answered that he was meeting friends. He said the bomber, who had an Iraqi
accent, sat down at one of the tables at the piano lounge and five minutes later
blew himself up.
Days Inn Manager Khalid Abu Ghosh said his staff had asked a suspicious man in
his mid-20s to leave the hotel coffee shop because he was acting weird and
fumbling with his jacket, in what appeared to be an attempt to detonate himself.
The hotel employees escorted the man outside the hotel, after which he blew
himself up.
“It was agreed to use suicide belts for precision and to cause maximum damage,”
said Al Qaeda statement signed in the name of the group's spokesman, Abu Maysara
Al Iraqi.
Thirty-three Jordanians and at least 12 foreigners were reported to have been
killed in the blasts. Several bodies have not yet been identified.
Iraqi Deputy Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Ali Ghalib told AP that it was possible
that Amman hotel bombers came from Iraq. “The attack looks like it was an act
carried by Al Qaeda and Al Zarqawi or those around him,” Ghalib said. “Whether
they are Iraqis or not, we are not sure. But it is not impossible,” he added. He
noted that the number of Iraqis carrying out suicide attacks has increased in
recent months, saying “that is why we cannot deny or confirm” if the hotel
assailants were Iraqis.
Muasher told reporters Friday that authorities have banned traffic and
individuals from crossing to Iraq via the Karameh land borders.
“All land borders are open, except for Al Karameh,” he said.
Immediately after the bombings authorities closed its land borders with Iraq,
Israel and the West Bank, Syria and Saudi Arabia. The borders were reopened the
second day.
Although initial reports indicate that the perpetrators were Iraqis, Muasher
said he did not expect a backlash against Iraqis in the Kingdom. “The attackers
do not represent the views of all Iraqis. They are terrorists and barbarians who
do not belong to any identity,” Muasher said.