Three suicide bombers in Amman, Jordan, killed fifty-seven people. A fourth bomber whose bomb did not go off was arrested.
Marwan Muasher, Jordan's deputy prime minister, says that Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi accompanied her husband, Ali Hussein al-Shimeri to a wedding reception at the Radisson hotel. Her bomb failed to detonate. Mr. Muasher said the two were dressed like wedding guests, suggesting that they had planned their target in advance:
"Both had explosive belts around their waists. His [Ali Hussein al-Shimeri's] wife attempted to detonate the belt after they went to the wedding room, but failed to do so. Her husband asked her to leave the wedding party. Once she did, he detonated himself successfully."
According to news reports Sajida Mubarek Atrous al-Rishawi is the sister of a slain al-Qaida terrorist from Iraq's Anbar province. President George W. Bush says that since the U.S. was attacked on September 11, 2001, many other places have been targeted by terrorists:
"In Mombasa and Casablanca and Riyadh and Jakarta and Istanbul and Madrid and Beslan and Taba and Netanya and Baghdad, and elsewhere. In the past few months we have seen a new terror offensive with attacks on London and Sharm el-Sheikh, another deadly strike in Vaku, and...a series of bombings in Amman Jordan."
Mr. Bush says, "While the killers choose their victims indiscriminately, their attacks serve a clear and focused ideology – a set of beliefs and goals that are evil, but not insane":
"Some call this evil Islamic radicalism; others, militant Jihadism; and still others, Islamo-fascism. Whatever it's called, this ideology is very different from the religion of Islam. This form of radicalism exploits Islam to serve a violent, political vision; the establishment, by terrorism, subversion and insurgency, of a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom."
"Evil men, obsessed with ambition and unburdened by conscience, must be taken very seriously," says Mr. Bush. "And we must stop them before their crimes can multiply."
The preceding was an editorial reflecting the views of the United States Government.