2005 Amman bombings
The 2005 Amman bombings were a series of coordinated suicide bomb attacks on three hotel lobbies in Amman, Jordan, on 9 November 2005. The explosions at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, the Radisson SAS Hotel, and the Days Inn started at around 20:50 local time (18:50 UTC) at the Grand Hyatt.[2][3] The three hotels are frequented by foreign diplomats. The bomb at the Radisson SAS exploded in the Philadelphia Ballroom, where a Palestinian wedding hosting hundreds of guests was taking place. The attacks killed 57 people and injured 115 others.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq was quick to claim the attack.[1][4]
Perpetrators[edit]
An internet statement released the day after claimed that the bombers were Abu Khabib, Abu Muaz, Abu Omaira, and Om Omaira, all Iraqis.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq immediately claimed the attack on a website, saying they were trying to hit "American and Israeli intelligence and other Western European governments".[1] AQI leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed the hotels were "playgrounds for Jewish terrorists."[13]
The Radisson hotel was previously an Islamist target during the 2000 millennium attack plots.[14] Jordanian police foiled the original attempt after arresting Khadr Abu Hoshar, a Palestinian militant, along with 15 others on 12 December 1999. It is believed that some of the hotels are frequented by American, Israeli, and European military contractors, journalists, business people, and diplomats, and the city itself has long been described as a "gateway" for Westerners into Baghdad and Iraq at large, leading many to entertain the possibility of a connection between the Amman bombings and the War in Iraq.
Response[edit]
Domestic[edit]
King Abdullah II cut a state visit to Kazakhstan short and returned to Jordan, where he pledged that "justice will pursue the criminals" and condemned the attacks. King Abdullah also canceled an upcoming visit to Israel.
Jordanians reacted to the bombings with outrage. Several hundred people in Amman participated in protests against the bombings, chanting "burn in hell, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi".[1] King Abdullah and Queen Rania visited several victims of the bombings in hospital. The King said "The pain you felt for the loss of your beloved ones, who were killed for no crime they committed, was shared by all Jordanians, regardless of their origins or religions." A relative of one of the victims presented a copy of the Qur'an to Abdullah during his visit to the hospital.[15]
The family of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Khalayleh tribe, took out half-page advertisements in Jordan's three main newspapers, to denounce him and his actions. 57 members of the al-Khalayleh family, including al-Zarqawi's brother and cousin, also reiterated their strong allegiance to the king. The ads said,