Up to 23 people have been killed and scores more have been wounded in a series of suicide bombings in three major hotels in the Jordanian capital of Amman this evening.
The first explosion shook the Radisson SAS hotel and several wounded people were seen in the lobby, witnesses said. The bomb ripped through a banqueting room where about 250 people were attending a wedding reception. The bomb is believed to have been concealed in a false ceiling.
The hotel is known to be popular with Israeli tourists.
Two other blasts were reported at the Grand Hyatt and the Days Inn hotels. The explosion at the nine-storey Hyatt happened at about 9 p.m. and appeared to have struck the lobby.
Major Bashir al-Da'aja of the Jordanian police said officials believed all the hotel blasts were carried out by suicide bombers.
"There were three terrorist attacks on the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn hotels and it is believed that the blasts were suicide bombings," Major al-Da'aja told The Associated Press. He declined to elaborate.
Jordan, a key ally of the US, had largely escaped the terror attacks that have hit other parts of the Middle East, and its sleepy capital, Amman, is viewed as a haven of stability in the region.
But Jordan has not been entirely immune. On August 19th, militants fired three Katyusha rockets at a Navy ship docked at the Red Sea resort of Aqaba, narrowly missing it and killing a Jordanian soldier.
Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, hails from poor Zarqa just outside Amman. Amman is a major centre for the United Nations in the region.