UPDATE 3: Who are the culprits? Since no one has claimed responsibility for the barbaric attacks, speculation has already begun and almost everyone is pointing to the one and only Zarqawi. He has threatened Jordan publicly a number of times so no surprise there. Also, these similtaneous attacks bear the hallmarks of Al-Qeada. I would say the culprits are either Zarqawi or an al-Qaeda copycat. But I was surprised to hear Salamet Ne’mat, the director of Al-Hayat office in DC, saying on CNN that Syria might be linked to this. Ha? Why Syria? What kind of an analysis is this!
UPDATE 2: I just finished chatting with my sister. She just got home. It was difficult for her to get inside the neighborhood of Rabieh where my parents live and where one of the hotels was attacked. The police cordoned off the area completely and she was stuck in her car on the outskirts of Rabieyh for almost an hour. She made it home with the help of one policeman. The Days Inn Hotel, which was the third hotel attacked, is only one mile away from where my family lives. She said they can smell the smoke from our house. This is just horrible!
I’m a bit calmer now that I know that my immediate family members and most of my friends are okay. Thank God! Now it is time to unleash my anger at the bloodsucking low-life barbarians that attacked my country and killed my people.
May you enjoy the hell that is awaiting you, where, to your dismay, you will be greeted by seven demons instead of your long-awaited virgins! May you rot in hell over and over again along with Zarqawi, Bin Laden, Bin Shit and all those that support you. Nothing in the world can justify this. Those that try to justify this can rot in hell as well! May God protect my country and my people. May God bless the souls of those barbarically massacred today. We will never forget!
UPDATE: Here is the latest: Aljazeera is reporting that three explosins occurred in Amman. One at the Radission SAS, one at the Grand Hyatt and one at Days Inn in Rabyeh neighbourhood. My parents, my sisters and maybe half of Jordan live in Rabyeh. My parents live very close to the Days Inn. I just called them and thank God they are fine. Dad said he heard the explosion. The death toll so far is 18!!
I’m shaking as I’m writing this. I do not know what to say anymore. I’m appalled, disgusted and on the verge of tears. My sister is still driving back home and I can’t get a hold of her. I feel like smashing this monitor right now!
Here is the MSNBC report. A Yahoo slideshow here and Sabbah’s Flicker. AP is running a continuing update here …
An explosion shook the Grand Hyatt hotel in Jordan’s capital late Wednesday, and witnesses saw smoke rising from the building. A police official said some people had been killed, "and there are many wounded." An American businessman who was at the hotel when the explosion occurred, said a "bomb that went off in the lobby." He declined to identify himself.
Police said the cause of the explosion was unknown. A black cloud of smoke was seen rising from the building in the commercial Jebel Amman district following the blast at about 8:50 p.m. (1:50 p.m. EST). Ambulances were seen rushing to the hotel.
Regarding so-called “Andrew Brehm”‘s comments:
“The terrorists were wrong this time; I can assure that they were thinking they are targeting western targets in those hotels”
Are you BENT?!!!! Or just plain stupid. In that one statement you are tell us that either you are one the terrorists, or that somehow you think like a religious fanatic terrorist. How else can you “assure” us what the terrorists are thinks. Are you one of them, that you seem to have some “inside” perspective on what they are thinking?
Now let’s examine the facts: The terrorist spoke to the wedding guests -in Iraqi accented arabic-, that PIG new that he was about to kill BABIES, CHILDREN, WOMEN and OLD MEN. He knew that hsi victims were Arab Muslims (real ones). He didn’t care! He was more interested in slaughter and mayhem (and possibly having an orgie with his so-called 70 virgins).
Mr “Brehm” it’s idiots like you that give all arabs a bad name. I hope the Jordanian Mukhabharat finds you and rips your nails out.
May Allah bless the victims
Jordan Blasts
But Zarqawi said “Hotels full of ‘Jews, Crusaders, traitors, prostitutes'”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,175135,00.html
Well, that legitimizes the attack, doesn’t it?
May God protect Jordan and relieve all victims and who lost their beloved people.
“Koloubana Maa’kom”
“The terrorists were wrong this time; I can assure that they were thinking they are targeting western targets in those hotels”
What do you mean “this time”?
I wonder what they thought they could accomplish by targeting westerners (they must have noticed that the hotel was actually _in_ Jordan and staffed by locals)?
I don’t think the terrorists much care about a supposed distinction between westerners and Jordanians and Iraqis. They just want to kill everybody who doesn’t agree with their own perverse rejection of Islam.
Look at what the terrorists do. Do you think they attack mosques in Iraq because they think that by doing so they are targeting westeners?
The terrorists were wrong this time; I can assure that they were thinking they are targeting western targets in those hotels
(s/two/twice/, meant to type “twice the sin”.)
“Aljazeera interviewer: But the US military kills civilians without distinguishing them from fighters in Iraq.”
If the terrorists had the decency to wear uniforms like soldiers, it would be possible to distinguish them from civilians.
But the goal of the terrorists is not to protect civilians from harm, as this terrible bombing once again showed.
I understand the hotel is Palestinian-Jordanian-owned? Why would the terrorists target the very people they claim to be fighting for if they indeed valued their cause?
Suicide is a sin. Suicide bombing is two the sin. They will burn in hell! But whom does that help?
May God bless Jordan. I hope to see many Jordanians, Arabs, Muslims, Christians, Iraqis, Palestinians and all marching in Amman in solidarity against this heinous bloodbath. Just as they burned the picture of bin Ladin, so too will they burn a picture of Zarqawi!
(and the poor victims had no clue)
Israelis evacuated from Amman hotel hours before bombings
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent
A number of Israelis staying on Wednesday at the Radisson hotel were evacuated before the bombing by Jordanian security forces, apparently due to a specific security alert. They were escorted back to Israel by security personnel.
The Foreign Ministry stated Wednesday that no Israeli tourists are known to have been injured in the blasts. Representatives of Israel’s embassy in Amman were in contact with local authorities to examine any report of injured Israelis, but none were received. There are often a number of Israeli businessman and tourists in Amman, including in the hotels hit Wednesday.
Israel’s counter-terror headquarters on Wednesday recommended Israeli citizens not travel in Jordan. Travel warnings regarding Jordan were tightened a few months ago, but many Israelis still visit the country. Many also visit other regions such as the Jordanian Arava and the ancient city of Petra.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/643661.html