AMMAN, 21 November 2005 — The prominent Jordanian tribe of Al-Qaeda’s frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, disavowed him in a declaration published in top Jordanian newspapers yesterday.
The front-page statements by the Khalayhleh-Bani Hassan tribe were published two days after the Jordanian-born Zarqawi defended the Nov. 9 bombings against Amman hotels that killed 59 people, and warned of more attacks.
“We absolutely denounce all terrorist acts adopted by Ahmad Fadel Nazzal Al-Khalayleh, alias Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, and affirm that we, the sons of the Khalayleh tribe, repudiate him,” said the statement, addressed to King Abdallah.
Zarqawi’s brother Sayel Fadel Nazzal Al-Khalayleh and MP Mussa Al-Khalayleh, a deputy from Zarqawi’s hometown Zarqa east of Amman, were among around 60 people who signed the statement.
“We are innocent of all his declarations, actions and reports ... and we repudiate him,” the statement said.
The suicide attacks against three luxury Amman hotels were the first of their kind in the kingdom. It was claimed by Zarqawi’s Al-Qaeda group, which has also carried out many of the bloodiest attacks in neighboring Iraq and beheadings of hostages, including foreigners. Addressing King Abdallah the tribe said it “vows allegiance to your throne and to our dear Jordan”.
“Anyone who dares to carry out such acts in our kingdom is not Jordanian and has nothing to do with Jordan,” it added.
In a voice recording posted Friday on an Internet site, Zarqawi said it had not been Al-Qaeda’s intention to target the wedding party which suffered the heaviest casualties in the Amman bombings.
“God knows that the decision to target these hotels was taken only after ascertaining that they had become bases for Jewish and America security services,” said the voice attributed to Zarqawi. “If we had wanted to kill innocents as the apostate (Jordanian) regime claims, we would not have resorted to sacrificing the lives of those who got through the security barriers,” said the voice whose authenticity could not be verified.
