Posted on 11/11/2005 11:06:16 AM PST by Shermy
The night the attack took place was a completely normal evening at the Days Inn, according to Khalid Abu Ghoush, the general manager of the hotel.
Most guests had already had their dinner in the restaurant on the ground floor and had gone on to enjoy the rest of their night. A large get-together had been moved to another hall in the building, but still there were ten or 12 people sitting in the comfortable lounge chairs between the bar at one end of the lobby, and the piano at the other.
Close to nine o'clock, a slim young man around 25 years of age walked in, dressed in black pants and a long leather coat.
He spoke Arabic with an iraqi accent, which I didn't hear myself, because I had just left for home, explains the manager. But later the security guards told me what happened.
The manager explained that the man then walked into the restaurant and sat down in one of the chairs next to the piano. Soon after taking a seat the man began to fumble with his jacket.
The hotel guards very quickly became suspicious, and as they approached the man, they saw he had pulled a pin, but that the explosives under his jacket had not gone off as he had planned. He got up and tried to flee, the manager told The Jordan Times.
The man ran out of the restaurant and turned sharply to the right pursued by the hotel's security guards. A few metres away stood four Chinese military officials who were staying at the hotel, said the manager.
At that moment, the suicide bomber's belt finally exploded, Abu Ghoush said.
I arrived ten minutes after the explosion to a scene of shock and panic. A lot of windows had been blown out, cars had been damaged... and there were body parts strewn all over the road. I saw a leg, cut below the knee, and a part of a body I couldn't recognise. The remains of the bomber's head were found on the other side of the street, Abu Ghoush said.
I have seen dead people before, on the West Bank, says the manager. But never a suicide bomber before. It was horrible. At least he did not manage to do what he wanted inside the restaurant. I thank God for that.
odd
Doogle
I thought the Days Inn was the one where a car blew up, some distance away because of security barriers.
I think this report more reliable.
I see photos of a damaged car at the entrance of the hotel, and reports of deaths at the entrance, so maybe near the entrance is where the man exploded as he fled from the piano bar room.
Date: Friday, November 11, 2005
AMMAN, Jordan, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Three students from China's University of National Defense were among the dead in Wednesday's bombings in Amman, Jordan, China Daily reported Friday.
The students were members of a delegation invited by the Royal Jordanian National Defense College on an academic exchange program, and had been staying at the Days Inn, one of the three hotels targeted by suicide bombers Wednesday.
The dead were identified as Sun Jingbo, 41, Zhang Kangping, 42 and Pan Wei, 44. A fourth delegate, Yao Liqiang, 42, suffered a broken leg.
The other 30 members of the delegation were transferred to a Jordanian military base pending their return to China. They had been scheduled to return home next Monday.
At least 57 people were killed, mainly Jordanians but also Palestinians, Iraqis, Saudis and one Indonesian as well as the Chinese. Up to 300 others were wounded in the blasts.
http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?StoryId=Cq3qLueidAM9YzgfUlwnOAw5LC2u
No, even. 4
..it's starting to look like that bar scene from the first Star War flick, but I bet you the music wasn't far off
Doogle
So he's not a witness to the bombing, just a witness to the aftermath.
You want to go home and rethink your life.
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