Authorities interrogate 12 suspects
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Al Qaeda says 4 Iraqis, including husband and wife, carried out suicide bombings
By Alia Shukri Hamzeh
AMMAN — Security forces have arrested scores of suspects believed to be connected with Wednesday's suicide bombings that were claimed by Al Qaeda in Iraq, informed sources said Friday.
“There were ongoing arrests and we will not hesitate to interrogate any suspected individual,” said a security official. The official refused to state the exact number of arrested suspects or their nationality, but did not deny that those who were rounded up were more than 150.
The Associated Press reported Friday 120 arrests, mainly Iraqis and Jordanians. But in his press conference, Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher confirmed 12 arrests and did not elaborate on their nationalities. However, the security official, who noted that the number of those detained kept changing because many have been released after questioning, said the arrests included Iraqi nationals.
Al Qaeda said Friday that four Iraqis, including a husband and wife, carried out the suicide bombings against the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn hotels, killing 57 people and injuring 96. The death toll of the three suicide bombings rose to 57 after Hollywood film director Mustafa Akkad died of sustained injuries early Friday (see separate story).
In a statement posted on the Internet, Al Qaeda in Iraq, led by fugitive Abu Mussab Zarqawi, said the group charged with planning and implementing the attacks was made up of three men identified as “commanders Abu Khabib, Abu Muath and Abu Omaira.” The fourth perpetrator was identified as “the venerable sister Um Omaira.”
“Um Omaira chose to follow her husband Abu Omaira on the path of martyrdom,” said the statement, whose authenticity was not verified.
Muasher said Al Qaeda was still the prime suspect, adding that the attacks were carried out according to the group's pattern.
“But I cannot confirm that until the results of the investigations are out,” he said.
Muasher told a press conference that forensic experts were still examining evidence as well as conducting DNA tests on the remains of the three men believed to be the bombers. He added that investigators had not found evidence to indicate that there was a fourth bomber, saying police were examining security videos from cameras in the hotels.
Agence France-Presse quoted a hospital source as saying that the head of a woman believed to be a suicide bomber had been found among the remains of victims at one hotel. “We received a woman's head and mangled body remains,” the source told AFP.
“This usually is the case when you are dealing with a suicide, the body is ripped apart and often the head is intact.”
But according to Momen Hadidi, the chief of staff of Forensic Medicine and head of the investigation team of autopsies, the decapitated head was that of a 15-year- old girl who has already been identified and buried by her family. Hadidi said the girl was decapitated because she was standing close to the suicide bomber.
He added that his team of forensic experts were thoroughly examining the dismembered body parts of those who were blown up by the explosions and were carrying out chemistry and biology tests.
“We are very close to identifying all the dismembered people,” he said, adding that descriptive indicators of the parts of the suicide bombers so far revealed that they were males.
“We are waiting for the tests results to come up to be sure,” Hadidi added.
Eyewitnesses and employees of both the Grand Hyatt and Days Inn hotels said they spoke to the bombers, who had an Iraqi accent.
A Grand Hyatt staffer said he saw a suspicious looking man nervously pacing back-and-forth and that he asked him if he was looking for someone, only to be answered that he was meeting friends. He said the bomber, who had an Iraqi accent, sat down at one of the tables at the piano lounge and five minutes later blew himself up.
Days Inn Manager Khalid Abu Ghosh said his staff had asked a suspicious man in his mid-20s to leave the hotel coffee shop because he was acting weird and fumbling with his jacket, in what appeared to be an attempt to detonate himself.
The hotel employees escorted the man outside the hotel, after which he blew himself up.
“It was agreed to use suicide belts for precision and to cause maximum damage,” said Al Qaeda statement signed in the name of the group's spokesman, Abu Maysara Al Iraqi.
Thirty-three Jordanians and at least 12 foreigners were reported to have been killed in the blasts. Several bodies have not yet been identified.
Iraqi Deputy Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Ali Ghalib told AP that it was possible that Amman hotel bombers came from Iraq. “The attack looks like it was an act carried by Al Qaeda and Al Zarqawi or those around him,” Ghalib said. “Whether they are Iraqis or not, we are not sure. But it is not impossible,” he added. He noted that the number of Iraqis carrying out suicide attacks has increased in recent months, saying “that is why we cannot deny or confirm” if the hotel assailants were Iraqis.
Muasher told reporters Friday that authorities have banned traffic and individuals from crossing to Iraq via the Karameh land borders.
“All land borders are open, except for Al Karameh,” he said.
Immediately after the bombings authorities closed its land borders with Iraq, Israel and the West Bank, Syria and Saudi Arabia. The borders were reopened the second day.
Although initial reports indicate that the perpetrators were Iraqis, Muasher said he did not expect a backlash against Iraqis in the Kingdom. “The attackers do not represent the views of all Iraqis. They are terrorists and barbarians who do not belong to any identity,” Muasher said.