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Gunman kills British tourist in Jordan

Posted on: Monday, 4 September 2006, 07:04 CDT

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 amphitheatre 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 neighbours and has close security cooperation since a peace treaty in 1994.

Source: REUTERS

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