AMMAN, 13 November 2005 — Jordan’s King Abdallah yesterday vowed to “take the fight” to Al-Qaeda’s strongman in Iraq Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi whose group has claimed suicide bombings that killed 57 people in the Jordanian capital.

“We are going to crack down and take the fight to Zarqawi,” the king said in an interview with CNN television, without elaborating.

“We have been very successful in taking down his operations in the past... (when) he used Jordanians. Now he has changed tactics, he is using foreigners. That means that our security services have to change tactics too,” he said.

“This is not a battle between a Jordanian-born, Jordan or different countries. This is an ideological struggle between extremist Muslims that have this perverse view of Islam against the rest of us moderate Muslims,” he said.

Asked if there was a connection between the attacks and Jordan’s links with the United States, the king said: “This is a strike against the people of Jordan not the policies of Jordan.”

In a separate interview with the state-run Petra news agency, he said: “We will develop our strategy to fight against terrorism and we will be firm with the terrorists.” “We will not tolerate those who encourage terrorism, preach violence and anathema. There is no place for them among us.”

Earlier, Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher announced yesterday that all three bombers who blew themselves up at Amman hotels on Wednesday were “non-Jordanians” who came across the border from a neighboring country.

He told a pres conference that “there is no evidence that any of the attackers was a woman.” Muasher said that investigations conducted by the Jordanian security authorities confirmed that Zarqawi’s group had “masterminded the blasts,” but refused to confirm Zarqawi’s version that the assailants were Iraqis.

“I can only say at this juncture that all three suicide bombers are non-Jordanians who came across the border from a neighboring country.” The Zarqawi group alleged in a statement on the Internet Friday that the attackers all of them Iraqis, were three men and a woman, who was wife of one of them.

Muasher said that around 12 suspects were still being held in connection with the attacks. “This does not mean that no arrests have taken place since yesterday, but some of the detained were released,” he added.

He said that the Jordanian border with Iraq was “re-opened in both directions” but reported little traffic on the Karameh crossing point.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will visit Jordan today, while Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are due tomorrow.

The Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister said that security was being shored up on Jordan’s borders and inside the country, starting with the import over the past few days of 60 high-tech X-Ray and other security equipment, the installation of which had already started at major hotels and other public places.

— With input from agencies