The attacks, which have killed an estimated 57 people and injured many more have been claimed to be the responsibility of the Iraqi branch of al-Qaida, which imposed itself upon the occupied country in 2003.

Marching in Amman, demonstrators chanted slogans denouncing al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian born leader of al-Qaida in Iraq and also called for those involved to be brought to justice. Protestors also carried a variety of banners, which read “No to terrorism and criminals”.

According to the Morning Star (12/11/2005), Jordanian authorities announced yesterday “that they had arrested 120 people in a nation wide man hunt for those behind” the bomb attacks.

In a statement from the country’s Police force, those who have been arrested were of “different nationalities, mainly Iraqis and Jordanians.” The authorities are keeping an open mind in relation to those detained because “we don’t know if any of them were involved in the attacks or assisted the suicide bombers. Many may simply be innocent.”

Speaking to an Iraqi journalist in Baghdad, she denounced the attack upon Jordan as an act of “savagery against innocent people.” She also claimed that the attacks were designed to “dis-unite the people” of the neighbouring countries and to further “scare people away from the Arab world.”

A 32-year-old British member of the Iraq Solidarity Campaign, who visited Jordan for the first time in June 2005, vented her anger at the bombers, for the “destruction” they have caused to a “country and people” who she now loves.

Stating that she was treated with the “utmost respect and decency” from the locals, she never once encountered any act of “hostility”, when she considered the international situation. It was also felt that she was “able to move around freely”, in different parts of the country and al-Qaida “would not deter” her from ever returning.

The Iraq Solidarity Campaign has also issued messages of condolences to friends inside the Hashemite Kingdom and do extend their deepest sympathies and prayers to the families of the victims.

Hussein Al-alak,
The Iraq Solidarity Campaign (UK)

There is now an online memorial to the victims of the Jordan bomb attack on the Iraq Solidarity Campaign website.