This is coming out in Jordan’s advancing probe of the bombing attacks on three Amman hotels last Wednesday. The inquiry received a huge boost with the capture of the failed woman bomber. Altogether 27 Palestinians were reported killed out of the 57, 17 from the same West Bank village of Silet al-Daher east of Tulkarm.
The Radisson was selected, according to our sources, because a Palestinian wedding party there was the opportunity for a mass-casualty strike on similar lines to the Passover Seder massacre of 17 Israelis at Netanya’s Park Hotel in March 2002. The attack on the Grand Hyatt struck the lobby where a group of senior Palestinian, Jordanian and Saudi intelligence officers were communing secretly and wiped out the entire group. Riyadh and Amman have not identified their officers.
The Palestinians were Maj-General Bashir Nafeh, head of Palestinian military intelligence on the West Bank and Abed A-Lon a senior facilitator between the PA and Western intelligence. Palestinians were also hit at the Days Inn hotel.
The arrest of Sajid Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, whose confession to being the fourth bomber was aired by Jordanian TV Sunday night, presents the Jordanian inquiry with a chance to find out how the clandestine intelligence meeting reached al Qaeda’s ears. |