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3 Chinese among 57 killed in Jordan hotel bombings
(AP/chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-11-10 08:54 In February, U.S. intelligence indicated that Osama 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.
Its capital has become a base for Westerners who fly in and out of
neighboring Iraq for work. Amman's main luxury hotels downtown are often full of
American and British officials and contractors enjoying the relative quiet of
the city.
Bodies of victims
lay on ground outside the Days Inn hotel in central Amman November 9,
2005. At least 57 people were killed and scores wounded on Wednesday
when three suspected suicide bombers blew themselves up in three hotels in
Amman, a security source said.
[Reuters] | "Obviously this is something Jordan is
not used to," Muasher told CNN. "We have been lucky so far in avoiding those
incidents." He said most of the casualties appeared to be Jordanians and that
authorities had sealed the country's land borders.
A State Department official said there was no information on any American
casualties. A Jordanian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity
because he was not authorized to address the media, said the dead included at
least three Asians, possibly Chinese.
The first blast was reported at about 8:50 p.m. at the five-star Grand Hyatt.
The explosion took place in the lobby and shattered its stone entrance.
Steve Olderman, a businessman from England, was attending a business dinner
at the Grand Hyatt, where an information technology conference took place
earlier in the day.
"Suddenly, we heard an explosion and the whole hotel filled with smoke, and
suddenly we found ourselves outside the hotel," said a startled-looking
Olderman, who was on the ground floor at the time of the attack.
"We saw bodies lying as we were coming out" of the hotel, said Olderman, who
had been staying at the Radisson. "It was pretty horrific. We were sitting
beside a huge plate glass window and it just exploded beside us. ... We were
lucky to get out alive."
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