| Submit your comments on this article |
| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Failed suicide bomber captured in Jordan |
| 2005-11-13 |
| Security forces in Jordan have detained what authorities believe is a would-be fourth suicide bomber, a woman, King Abdullah II announced. The woman's explosives apparently failed to detonate, he said on Sunday. She apparently wore an explosive belt, along with her husband, another bomber, to the Radisson in Amman. But after her explosives failed to detonate, said Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher, her husband asked her to leave before detonating his own. Sixty-seven people were killed in the blasts at the Radisson, the Grand Hyatt and the Days Inn on Wednesday, and more than 90 were wounded. Abdullah was speaking the day after he vowed to back a crackdown on al Qaeda after confirmed that four people from the terror group carried out the Amman hotel attacks -- three suicide bombers and the wife of one of the attackers. But in an interview with CNN, the monarch stopped short of pledging unilateral action against the terror group al Qaeda in Iraq, which is led by Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. "Obviously we are going to crack down and take the fight to Zarqawi, but this is part of our coalition ... against this ... threat," he said. Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack, which killed 57 people, plus the three bombers. In an Internet statement, the terrorist group said three suicide bombers and the wife of one of the attackers were involved in the bombings. While the statement cannot be independently confirmed, King Abdullah said "initial findings" indicate that they were all Iraqis. The king expressed particular scorn for the husband and wife team. "To see a wedding procession and to take your wife or your spouse with you into that wedding and blow yourself up -- these people are insane," he said. The attack on the wedding party at the Radisson Hotel resulted in the heaviest loss of life, including 38 friends and family of the bride and groom. The Web site posting from al Qaeda in Iraq said the husband and wife were responsible for the Days Inn blast. King Abdullah said that while Zarqawi "has been targeting Jordan for quite awhile," Wednesday's attack -- the deadliest in Jordan's history -- showed a new strategy for the Jordanian-born terror leader. "We have been very successful on a regular basis in being able to take his groups across because he has used Jordanians," the king said. "Now he has changed tactics. "He is using foreigners. That means that our security forces have to change tactics, also." He said it was possible the attackers slipped into Jordan from Iraq or Syria, accused by the United States of allowing terrorists to cross into Iraq. Security officials later said they believed the attackers crossed the Iraqi border. King Abdullah said he has spoken to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad about securing the border to prevent terrorists "that have been creating instability here." "He has assured me on many occasions that he will take this up and give it his utmost attention, and I hope that he will continue to do that," the king said. When asked if Assad had followed up his words with actions, the monarch said, "Well, we still have had problems across our borders." Jordanian authorities offered some insight Saturday into the ongoing investigation of Wednesday's bombings. The bombers came across the Iraqi border three days before the Wednesday attacks and rented a house. A forensic examination of the house is under way to determine if it is commonly used a safe house for bombers, authorities said. Authorities retrieved nothing useful from the security cameras in the hotels or from the wedding photographer at the Radisson. As for the suicide belts, they were made outside of Jordan. But the detonators were connected to the belts shortly before the bombings, presumably in Jordan. The belts contained a "rapid detonation explosive," security officials said, and the detonators were fashioned from hand grenade detonators. The explosives and detonators were of Yugoslavian origin, authorities said, and are readily available in Iraq. The investigation suggests that al-Zarqawi was frustrated that Jordan had been able to thwart 15 plots since April 2004, so al Qaeda's Iraq leader shifted his focus to soft targets to demonstrate he was "still alive and kicking" in his native Jordan, officials said. This same rationale prompted al-Zarqawi to recruit non-Jordanians in an effort to prevent Jordan's intelligence officials from uncovering plots against soft targets. Fourteen people have been arrested in connection with the bombings, all of them non-Jordanians. Jordan police have yet to make the bombers' identities public, but may do so Sunday. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #6 She apparently wore an explosive belt ... Semtex, the ultimate in high reliablility chastity belts. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2005-11-13 19:21 |
| #5 Columbo: "I have just one more question, miss...ya say your belt didn't work....." |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-11-13 16:58 |
| #4 First of all, the whole husband/wife thing is a bit strange. Then her belt malfunctioned and then somehow she managed not to get blown up along with everyone else and then she just walks off? I'd be a bit leery of a set-up if I were the investigators. While it may be a lucky break - it seems just a little too pat. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-11-13 16:54 |
| #3 I suspect Zark boy of having a bone to pick with this particular Pal set of clans. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-11-13 13:16 |
| #2 I think there was a little more planning than that ..... |
| Posted by: lotp 2005-11-13 09:58 |
| #1 "To see a wedding procession and to take your wife or your spouse with you into that wedding and blow yourself up -- these people are insane," Or maybe he just had an unhappy marriage and seeing the wedding in the target hotel made him choose to 'save' them. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2005-11-13 09:55 |