Three Chinese killed in Jordan bombing
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-11-11 05:47

A Chinese team comprising officials from the defence and foreign ministries and relatives of the victims left for Amman yesterday evening.

The dead were identified as Sun Jingbo, Zhang Kangping and Pan Wei, aged 41, 42 and 44 respectively.

Yao Liqiang, 42, suffered a leg fracture.

Bodies of victims lay on ground outside the Days Inn hotel in central Amman November 9, 2005. At least 57 people were killed and scores wounded on Wednesday when three suspected suicide bombers blew themselves up in three hotels in Amman, a security source said. [Reuters]

The other 30 members of the delegation have been transferred to a Jordanian military base.

Jordan had previously been spared major attacks, despite its proximity to Iraq and popularity as a tourist destination, but the authorities were braced for trouble.

"The initial investigations so far show that the blasts... were executed by explosive devices and suicide bombings," a Jordanian cabinet statement said.

The violence in Iraq has forced many UN agencies and private relief groups to relocate to Amman, which also hosts about 400,000 Iraqis who have fled the mayhem, bringing valuable investment to the country.

"This is a worldwide evil," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, visiting Jordan on his way to Iraq, told reporters at the devastated Hyatt hotel.

Most of the victims were Jordanians.

A Palestinian diplomat said a senior Palestinian officer and two other officials were among the dead.

Schools, businesses and government offices closed as the stunned kingdom prepared to bury the dead. Police and troops threw up roadblocks around hotels and embassies in Amman.

US President George W. Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other world leaders condemned the attacks. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan cancelled plans to visit Amman yesterday.

The explosion at the Radisson tore through a banquet room where about 250 people were at a wedding reception, witnesses said. A smaller wedding was going on at the Hyatt.

Many Westerners, including tourists, businessmen and foreign contractors working in Iraq, were staying at the three hotels. The Radisson is known to be popular with Israeli tourists.

Agencies - China Daily

(China Daily 11/11/2005 page1)