By News Agencies AMMAN – Explosions rocked three hotels in the Jordanian capital late Wednesday, killing at least 18 people, wounding more than 120 and sending ambulances screaming across downtown. One of the hotels is known to be popular with Israeli tourists. The first bomb, at 8:50 local time (1850 GMT), struck the Grand Hyatt, completely shattering the stone entrance. An AP reporter saw at least seven bodies removed from the hotel and many more wounded carried out on stretchers. CNN reported an eyewitness saying the Jordanian prime minister’s car was at the Grand Hyatt at the time of the blast. Police said a second explosion hit the nearby Radisson SAS hotel where about 250 people were attending a wedding reception. At least five were killed and at least 20 wounded in that blast, believed to have been caused by a bomb placed in a false ceiling, police sources at the scene told Reuters. The Radisson, in particular, is popular with Israeli tourists, and was a target of several foiled Al-Qaida plots in the past. Police also reported a third explosion at the Days Inn Hotel in Amman. There are also casualties at that hotel. „The attacks carry the trademark of Al-Qaida,” one police official said on condition of anonymity in line with police regulations. „However it is not certain. We are investigating.” Ayman al-Safadi, editor of Jordan’s Al-Ghad newspaper, told Al-Arabiya satellite network that it was a „terrorist operation.” „Finally, the terrorists succeeded in breaking the security in Jordan,” he said, referring to past success in foiling many terror plots. The Grand Hyatt and Radisson SAS hotels, in the commercial Jebel Amman district, are located about one kilometer apart and are frequented by American and European businessmen and diplomats. The Days Inn is located three kilometers away. An American businessman who was at the Grand Hyatt when the explosion occurred, said a „bomb that went off in the lobby.” He declined to identify himself. „It was a miracle that we made it out with a scratch,” said a British guest at the Grand Hyatt. „We thought it was fireworks for the wedding but I saw people falling to the ground,” said Ahmed, a wedding guest at the Radisson who did not give his surname. „I saw blood. There were people killed. It was ugly.”
BPI-info
BPI-info
