Amman Hotel Bombings
The Amman Hotel Bombings occurred on November 9, 2005, in Amman, Jordan, when suicide bombers targeted three hotels popular with Westerners, resulting in the deaths of 58 people and injuring around 100 others. This attack marked the deadliest terrorist incident in Jordan's history, with the majority of victims being Jordanians, which sparked widespread outrage, especially since one of the bombs exploded during a wedding celebration. The group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, quickly claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The attackers included three Iraqi men, and the wife of one bomber later confessed to involvement in the plot, citing a desire for revenge against perceived injustices in Iraq. Following the bombings, significant public demonstrations arose in Jordan denouncing terrorism, reflecting a rare show of unity against extremist violence in the region. The event raised concerns among Jordanian officials about the increasing capability of extremist groups to operate within their borders, particularly as they were able to recruit from Iraq, complicating security efforts. This incident underscored the complexities of regional security in the context of the Iraq conflict and its spillover effects into neighboring countries.
Amman Hotel Bombings
Date: Nov. 9, 2005.
Place: Amman, Jordan.
Incident: Suicide bombers attacked three hotels frequented by Westerners, killing 58 and injuring about 100, the majority of whom were Jordanians.
Context: The attack was the most deadly terrorist incident recorded in Jordan, where an effective police intelligence organization has foiled earlier efforts, notably a hotel bombing plot timed to coincide with millennium celebrations in 2000.
Known or presumed perpetrators: Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, quickly claimed responsibility. Jordanian officials identified the suicide bombers as three Iraqi men; the wife of one bomber confessed to carrying a bomb into one hotel but failing to detonate it.
Impact: Hundreds of Jordanians participated in street demonstrations denouncing terrorism and Zarqawi. But Jordanian anti-terror officials said it was ominous that Zarqawi was able to send Iraqis to conduct terror operations in Jordan, a development that made it harder to track potential terrorists.
The Incident
Shortly after 8:30 p.m. on November 9, 2005, suicide bombers detonated explosives inside or near three Amman, Jordan, hotels popular with Western businessmen and journalists.
The first bomb exploded in a ballroom of the Radisson SAS Hotel where a wedding party was taking place. The fact that the bombers attacked a wedding celebration of Jordanians sparked significant outrage in Jordan and elsewhere.
Within three minutes a second suicide bomber detonated an explosive inside the Grand Hyatt.
The third bomb exploded minutes later outside the Day 's Inn Hotel; officials said the death toll there would have been much higher had the bomber gone inside the building.
All three bombs were strapped to the attackers' bodies.
A total of 58 people died and almost 100 were injured in the three explosions. Three Americans were among the victims, along with many Saudis, Chinese, and Indonesians. Over half the fatalities were among Jordanian citizens.
Perpetrators/Suspects
Shortly after the attacks a Web site attributed to al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the group led by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed that four Iraqis-three men and a woman-had carried out the attacks. This information led officials to arrest Sajida Mubarak al-Rishawi of Ramadi, Iraq, identified as the recently married widow of one of the suicide bombers. Mrs. Rishawi was shown on Jordanian television confessing to the bombing, explaining that she had left a part of her bomb in a car and that the bomb failed to go off. Rishawi said she participated in the attack to revenge the deaths of family members in Iraq; she evidently married her husband in order to observe a propriety that requires a female suicide bomber to be married when conducting a joint operation with a male bomber.
Jordanian officials said the al Qaeda in Mesopotamia web site had tipped them to the fact that a woman was involved in the plot, and led them to a safe house rented by the four bombers shortly before the attack.
Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia is an affiliate of the organization led by Osama bin Laden and is thought to have recruited many former members of Iraq's Republican Guards, a mainstay of support for Saddam Hussein, as members since the invasion of Iraq by the United States in 2003. The United States has offered a $25 million reward for the capture of Zarqawi, the same reward offered for bin Laden.
Broader Impact
The government helped organize demonstrations in the days after the attack, hanging banners promoting national unity. Several hundred Jordanians participated in demonstrations denouncing al Qaeda in Mesopotamia in the days following the attack, suggesting that the particular brutality of attacking a wedding party had struck a nerve. Such demonstrations against terrorism are rare in the region.
Jordanian security officials expressed concern over evidence that Zarqawi had successfully recruited Iraqis to conduct terrorist attacks outside Iraq. They said the Iraqi nationality of the bombers was evidence that the Jordanian terrorist leader was able to replace captured or fallen members of his organization with Iraqis, which they cited as evidence that the U.S. invasion and continuing presence in Iraq had helped Islamist terrorists expand their organizations. Although Jordan has been able to effectively control Jordanian terrorism, officials said tracking terrorists recruited inside Iraq was much harder. (About half a million Iraqis have moved to Jordan since the U.S. invasion.)
Days after the blasts several senior advisors to the king resigned, and a new national security adviser, Marouf al-Bakhit, was appointed.
Some anti-terror officials expressed concern that the terrorism associated with the war in Iraq might spread to Jordan across the relatively open border between the two countries, where Iraqis equipped with fake passports are able to travel from Iraq to Amman in a day. Earlier al Qaeda efforts to import terrorists from Afghanistan had proved much harder.
History/Background
Jordan has long been a target of Zarqawi, himself a native of Jordan, who was once jailed for membership in a radical Islamist group. Jordan's well-regarded security agency has successfully foiled earlier attacks, most notably a plot to bomb hotels during celebrations of the millennium in 2000.
The government of King Abdullah, like that of his father, is a long-time target of militant Islamists, in large part because of Jordan's peace agreement with Israel and its long-standing close ties to the United States.
Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 many contractors, including U.S. firms, have used Jordan as a peaceful staging area for their operations in Iraq.
Bibliography
"Unfamiliar Questions in the Arab Air." Economist, Nov. 26, 2005, p. 29.
Nordland, Rod, et al. "Terror for Export." Newsweek, Nov. 21, 2005, p. 38.