JORDAN: Lone Arabic gunman kills British tourist and wounds six people in Amman

A lone gunman opened fire on a group of foreign tourists in the Jordanian capital Amman on Monday (September 4, 2006), killing a British man and wounding six other people, officials and witnesses said. Jordanian officials said they were investigating if the gunman who was arrested shortly after the incident acted on his own or belonged to a radical Islamist group. Police cordoned off the site of the attack near the Roman amphitheatre in the downtown area of the capital where thousands of Jordanians go for work and entertainment. Several witnesses said they saw a young man shooting at a group of Western tourists walking near the popular site. Interior Minister Eid al-Fayez identified the gunman as Nabil Ahmad, a Jordanian in his late thirties and a resident of the industrial town of Zarqa, on the eastern outskirts of the capital, saying initial leads suggested he acted on his own. Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakheet told reporters after a visit to the hospital where the wounded were being treated: "This is great aggression against Jordan's security and on Jordanian values and morals. This action is not part of our ethics and hospitality to visitors. This is a cowardly act. Jordan has been targeted because it is fighting terror, but this will not stop us from continuing our fight against terror and confronting imported ideologies that are invading our Islamic values and Jordanian society" The shooting spree is the first bloody incident to hit the pro-Western kingdom since triple suicide bombings against luxury hotels claimed by al Qaeda last November which killed scores. Anti-Western sentiment has hardened in the kingdom since Israel's military offensives against Gaza and Lebanon. Witnesses said the gunman shot at least 12 bullets before he finished his ammunition and was chased in the crowded downtown area before he was arrested. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Earlier Fayez told reporters that the incident was an act designed to undermine the security of the kingdom. "There is no doubt that this is a terrorist act that targets the security of Jordan because it fights terror. This will not dissuade us from continuing the battle against terror," he said. A spokesperson for the British embassy in Jordan confirmed one British national had been killed and two others injured. Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip and war against Hizbollah in Lebanon, which has killed some 1,400 fellow Arabs and drawn international criticism, has also raised passions in Jordan where anti-Israeli feelings are running high. Many Jordanians are angry about what they see as Western indifference towards the plight of Palestinians. Security sources say they have been worried since Israel's war with Hizbollah, which was halted on Aug 14, led to a surge in anti-Western sentiment among inhabitants of the Muslim country. Jordan enjoys the warmest ties with Israel among its Arab neighbours and has close security cooperation since a peace treaty in 1994.

ITN Source | September 6, 2006

Tags:. .wounded. .tourists. .passions. .luxury. .eastern