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Jordan applauds capture of would-be bomber
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-14 20:52
The televised confession of an Iraqi woman — accused of
being the fourth would-be suicide attacker — set Jordanians buzzing Monday, with
some expressing joy over her capture and others venting anger over her deadly
plans.
This image made from television shows Iraqi
Sajida Mubarek Atrous al-Rishawi opening her jacket and showing an
explosive belt as she confesses on Jordanian state-run television Sunday
Nov. 13, 2005 to her failed bid to set off an explosives belt inside one
of the three Amman hotels targeted by al-Qaida. Fifty-seven people were
killed on Wednesday's attack on three Amman hotels. It can not be
confirmed that this is the actual belt used in the failed attempt on
Wednesday . [AP] |
Still others questioned if she was really involved in the bomb plot that
killed 57 people in Wednesday's attacks on the Radisson SAS, Grand Hyatt and
Days Inn hotels.
Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi went from rural Iraqi obscurity to global
notoriety overnight after her confession was aired Sunday in a broadcast beamed
not just across Jordan, but throughout the Middle East and beyond.
"I sat there watching and couldn't understand how she could be speaking so
coldly," said Adel Fathi, 29. Three of his relatives were killed in the Radisson
wedding party reception that was bombed by al-Rishawi's husband.
"What are these people made of?" asked Fathi, who closed his women's
accessories shop early and joined millions of others who watched the confession.
Al-Rishawi, from the militant hotbed of Ramadi and the sister of a slain
lieutenant of Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was arrested Sunday.
Police swooped on an Amman safe house after they were tipped by al-Qaida in
Iraq's Internet claim that she had died in the attacks.
"My husband detonated (his bomb) and I tried to explode (mine) but it
wouldn't," al-Rishawi said during the three-minute televised segment. She
appeared anxious and wore a white headscarf. "People fled running and I left
running with them."
Al-Rishawi was made to display the clothing she wore into the party in which
at least 25 people were killed by her husband, Ali Hussein Ali al-Shamari, also
35.
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