Gunman kills British tourist, wounds six in Jordan

By Suleiman al-Khalidi

AMMAN (Reuters) – A lone gunman opened fire on a group of
foreign tourists in the Jordanian capital Amman on Monday,
killing a British man and wounding six, an official and a
witness said.

Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Joudeh denied earlier
reports that the attack was carried out by two men, one of them
an Iraqi. He said the gunman, a Jordanian, had been arrested
and was being questioned.

Joudeh told Reuters the wounded were three Britons, a Dutch
national, a New Zealander and their Jordanian tour guide.

“One British citizen has died as a result of his injuries
and the others are receiving treatment,” he said.

Police cordoned off the site of the attack near the Roman
amphitheater in the downtown area of the capital.

“I was walking when I saw someone pull out a pistol from
his pocket and start shouting Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest)
and fire repeatedly,” Mohammad Jawad Ali, an Iraqi who
witnessed the shooting, told Reuters.

“Then I saw one tourist who appeared to be dead and three
who were injured. They were in a group of seven. A woman told
me they were tourists from New Zealand and England.”

Witnesses said the gunmen 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.

“TERRORIST ACT”

Interior Minister Eid al-Fayez told reporters in a briefing
near the site that police were investigating if the incident
was an isolated act of violence by a sole gunman.

“The Jordanian culprit is being interrogated and we don’t
know if he had any accomplices in this operation,” Fayez said.
“There is no doubt that this is a terrorist act.”

A spokesman for the Foreign Office in London could not
immediately say whether any Britons were caught up in the
shooting.

“We are actively seeking information from the Jordanian
authorities about the attacks,” he told Reuters.

The downtown area of Amman is a very popular tourist
attraction.

Al Qaeda in Iraq launched suicide bombings against hotels
in Amman last year, killing scores of people.

But 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 toward 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
neighbors and has close security cooperation since a peace
treaty in 1994.