Two persons killed in an explosion near a security official in Amman
Jordan, Local, 3/1/2002

An explosion took place on Thursday morning in front of the house of the chairman of terrorism fighting branch in the Jordanian intelligence resulted in killing two persons, in the first incident of its kind in Amman since 10 years.

Political circles predicted that the explosion was the making of extremist groups might be linked to al-Qaida organization of Osama Bin Laden.

However, in a short statement, the Jordanian ministry of the information said that the explosion resulted from " an explosive charge " and resulted in "killing two persons working in the area. One is Egyptian and the second is an Iraqi." The statement added that the explosion inflicted damages in three cars parked in the street. The ministry indicated that specialized sides started immediate investigations about this matter.

This is explosion is considered the first incident which resulted in killing that has been taking place in Amman since more than 10 years.

By the beginning of the 1990s various attacks took place carried out by extremist groups but resulted in no casualties. So far, the Jordanian authorities did not announce its suspects in a certain side to be behind the explosion, but political circles in Amman do not rule out the incident to be made by extremist groups, connected to al-Qaida organization, especially as Jordan is considered an effective side in the international campaign against terrorism.

This attitude is supported by the fact that the explosion took place at the entrance of the house of the terrorism- fighting branch at the general intelligence department Ali Barjaq and near a car owned by his wife Yasmin which was parked before the house and was greatly damaged as a result of the explosion.

This branch took part in tough measures against Islamists extremists since the occurrence of the September 11 attacks. Jordan arrested tens of persons suspected to be of Bin Laden followers during the few past months.

Other sources indicated the possibility of having a link between the explosion and a great fraud case against the Jordanian banks exceeding USD 100 million. The Jordanian authorities announced the involvement of former and present security officials. However, the possibility of this assumption seems weak.

On another development, the Jordanian state security court decided to release 11 persons arrested in acts of violence took place in Maan city, to the south of Jordan after one detainee died in vague conditions, just one month ago.

Previous Stories:
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  Jordan refuses to release three Hizbullah members   (2/22/2002)
  Former chairman of Jordanian intelligence denies involvement in bank scandal   (2/20/2002)
  Death penalty to Raed Hijazi in Jordan   (2/12/2002)

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