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Posted on 11/13/2005 7:19:47 AM PST by wjersey
AMMAN, Jordan - Jordan on Sunday arrested the Iraqi wife of a suicide bomber, who tried but failed to blow herself up in attacks that killed 57 people, after police were tipped-off to her existence by an al-Qaida claim that a total of four bombers had carried out the attacks.
The woman failed to blow herself up at the Radisson SAS hotel on Wednesday night after apparently struggling with the cord on her explosives belt, Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher said. Her husband saw her fumbling and "pushed her out of the ballroom," he said. "Once she was out, he blew himself up."
Officials said the woman, age 35, would confess on state-run TV later Sunday.
The dramatic turn in the case came as Jordanian officials identified the three suicide bombers, including the woman's husband, as Iraqis, in their first detailed explanation of who carried out the deadly attacks.
The woman was identified as the sister of Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's former right hand man in Iraq's volatile Anbar province.
The involvement of al-Zarqawi in the triple hotel bombings is a worrying development for the region, indicating that the feared terrorist or his leaders have deadly designs and abilities beyond war-ravaged Iraq's borders.
Jordan's deputy premier said the four Iraqis drove into Jordan from Iraq on Nov. 4, just five days before the attacks and rented an apartment in western Amman. They took taxis to the attack sites on Wednesday.
The would-be woman bomber was identified as Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, 35, the sister of the slain former militant Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, the former right-hand man of al-Zarqawi, the head of al-Qaida in Iraq.
Muasher said the brother was killed by U.S. forces in the one-time terrorist stronghold of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, but it was unclear when.
Al-Qaida in Iraq had already claimed responsibility for the bombings, which it said four bombers carried out. The group said the attacks were to strike at Jordan's support for the United States and other Western powers.
A top Jordanian security official, insisting on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press, said the woman was arrested Sunday morning at an Amman "safe house," in the same Amman district where her husband had rented a furnished apartment earlier in the week.
He said Jordanian security was "tipped off" by al-Qaida's claim.
"There were leads that more people had been involved, but it was not clear that it was a woman and we had no idea on her nationality," the official said.
He said intelligence officials were interrogating the woman.
King Abdullah, who also said Sunday that three Iraqi men and one woman carried out the attacks, has pledged to target anyone supporting or sympathizing with such terrorists.
Muasher said the three suicide bombers who attacked the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn hotels Wednesday — killing 57 others — were all Iraqis. They were identified as al-Rishawi's husband, Ali Hussein Ali al-Shamari, 35, from Anbar; Rawad Jassem Mohammed Abed, 23; and Safaa Mohammed Ali, 23.
The four left their apartment on Wednesday — the day of the attacks — and took taxis to the hotels, including the Radisson, where almost 300 people were attending a Jordanian-Palestinian wedding reception in one of the hotel's ballrooms.
"It is clear from the way she was dressed and the explosive belts with ball bearings that they wanted to target innocent civilians, and also wanted to inflict the biggest number of casualties and victims," Muasher said.
Al-Rishawi entered the hotel's reception with her husband. When the husband noticed his wife was having trouble detonating her bomb by pulling its primer cord, he "pushed her out of the ballroom. Once she was out, he blew himself up," Muasher said.
The bomb strapped to the man's body was packed with the powerful explosive RDX and ball bearings and was designed to kill as many people as possible, Muasher said.
Investigations showed that no Jordanians were involved in the actual attacks, but several Jordanian followers of al-Zarqawi have been arrested, the deputy premier added.
Al-Qaida in Iraq's operation in Jordan — its deadliest inside a neighboring Mideast country — raised fears that al-Zarqawi's terror campaign has gained enough momentum to spread throughout the region.
Jordan's confirmation of the Iraqi link could harm already bruised relations with its eastern neighbor after both have previously traded diplomatic blows over the crossing backward and forward of militants.
Earlier Sunday, Iraq's defense minister offered Jordan its support in the hotel bombings probe and warned that unchecked violence in Iraq will spread terrorism across the region.
"We are partners in facing terrorism," Defense Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press. "Amman's ordeal and Jordan's ordeal is the ordeal of all Iraqis."
The terrorists' "target is to kill tolerance and destroy coexistence in Arab and Muslim cities," al-Dulaimi said.
Al-Dulaimi also criticized Syria for letting Islamic extremists train on its soil and enter Iraq to carry out terrorist attacks.
"Let me tell the Syrians that if the Iraqi volcano explodes no neighboring capital will be saved," the Iraqi official said. "We have a 620 kilometer (385 mile) border with this country and we have 620 problems with the Syrians."
The United States and Iraq have repeatedly called on Syria to lock down its borders and stop al-Qaida in Iraq extremists allied to Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi entering Iraq.
Wednesday's Amman hotel attacks sparked the largest Jordanian manhunt in living history and angered most of this desert kingdom's 5.4 million people and many of the 400,000 Iraqis living here.
Al-Zarqawi, who traveled from militant training grounds in Afghanistan to Iraq before the U.S.-led 2003 war, has been sentenced to death in absentia in Jordan for terror-related crimes here. He has vowed to topple the kingdom's moderate Hashemite rulers.
Interestingly enough this woman, Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, 35, the sister of the slain former militant Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, the former right-hand man of al-Zarqawi, the head of al-Qaida in Iraq; is related to z-man. You can be certain that hundreds are rounded up and interrogated. Iran is making a weak effort to deflect blame to the Jews. The dead pool on the z-man has very favorable odds for those betting on a rapid demise of him and his inner sanctum. This woman will retain her fingernails, but you can be certain that relatives of hers will be thoroughly interrogated. Her execution will be witnessed by many relatives.
Great question, but not so obvious to the talking heads commenting on this today. So far, I haven't heard even one of them bring it up. However, they have asked if it would have happened if we had not invaded Iraq, and if our policies were more Islamic-friendly and so on. Some were quite concerned for the welfare of the would-be suicide bomber (or is that bomberess?).
Priceless!!! :)
Now I'm really confused. She IS or IS NOT related to al-Zarqawi as well as the already dead aide of his that we killed?
What!?! That fat SOB is going to Jordan?? I had not heard this yet....jeez! Is the pig wife of his going too?
Ok, you owe me another keyboard, plus I had to clean my latte off the monitor screen as well. Still chuckling, in fact.
Just saw a picture of her. Apparently, their interrogation methods involved an ugly stick.
Never send a woman to do a Dark Ages man's work?
Burqa, by choice...
What a future this woman has.
It is a family "bush" thing. Cousins marry cousins and what-not. Tribal loyalty. Many "families" have blood and marriage bonds. The facts will bear out once the round-up is complete. Notice NO mention of whether other people were arrested at a safe house.
She will probably give up extremely valuable intelligence.
Someone close to Zarqawi who is probably more than willing to tell all now.
Of course her bomb didn't go off. She didn't set it off on purpose. After all, what is she going to do with 72 virgins?
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From the looks of her perhaps they could have offered her some make-up and fashion advice.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051113/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_051113103036;_ylt=As1LwtzIoPTtvbYrvyuLiTdX6GMA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
Sounds like someone is going to sue for peace.
They said that mrs. pig would be visiting Jerusalem......she has to shore up her votes for the senate you know.
The Palestinians have been at war with the Royal family there for decades, many decades.
Sometimes evil loses, and this was one of those times.
Innocent blood spilled to wake up those who chose to look the other way when others were brutally murdered.
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