US diplomat gunned down in Jordan

US: A US diplomat was gunned down yesterday morning in front of his home in the Jordanian capital, Amman, as he was getting into his car to go to work at the embassy.

Mr Lawrence Foley (62), the executive officer of the development agency, USAID, died in a hail of bullets from an automatic pistol. While witnesses claim they saw a man running away on foot, Jordanian investigators said that evidence indicated the involvement of a single gunman operating with accomplices. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the operation, the first fatal attack on a Western diplomat in a kingdom where security is normally tight. An informed source in Amman told The Irish Times that the authorities were still seeking the unknown assailant 12 hours after the killing.

Following a condolence visit to the US embassy, the Jordanian Foreign Minister, Mr Marwan Muasher, stated, "The Jordanian security services will deal firmly and seriously with this abominable crime and arrest the perpetrator as soon as possible." The Information Minister, Mr Muhammad Adwan, said the killing "is an act against Jordan and its national security" which could not be tolerated. Following the attack, Jordanian special forces with machine guns mounted on their vehicles escorted diplomatic cars in the city and guarded foreign missions.

Mr Foley was shot at a time of rising anti-US sentiment in the region due to the Bush administration's refusal to curb Israel's military campaign against the Palestinians and threats to wage war against Iraq. Jordan's King Abdullah has repeatedly called upon Washington to intervene in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and has spoken out against the use of force against Iraq. He has warned that toppling its government could result in chaos in the region.

Resentment against Israel and the US began to build after Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.

Shortly after the treaty came into force, a Jordanian soldier shot and killed 13 Israeli schoolgirls near the border. In November 1999, 28 Arab men were arrested as they plotted attacks on hotels due to be filled with US and Israeli tourists during millennium celebrations. In 2000, two Israeli diplomats were shot and wounded in Amman. An Israeli diamond merchant was murdered in August 2001 in the same middle-class neighbourhood where Mr Foley lived with his wife. Jordanian security suggested the cause was a business dispute rather than politics but the culprit was never found.

Last month, the US said it had received uncorroborated reports that an al-Qaeda operative was planning to kidnap American citizens in Jordan.

Yesterday's killing coincided with the resumption of the trial of 10 men, including one who had recently returned from Afghanistan, accused of planning to assassinate US citizens jogging close to the US embassy.

Jordan, one of Washington's traditional Arab friends and allies, became the fourth-largest recipient of US aid this year when funding was boosted from $227 million to $450 million due to the kingdom's strong support for the Bush administration's war on terrorism. Some $300 million in economic and military assistance has been earmarked for 2003. USAid has been a partner in the kingdom's $5 billion project to develop its water resources.

The Jordanian police have to consider many possible suspects.

More than half of the population of the kingdom is made up of Palestinian refugees, many of whom strongly oppose Jordan's ties with Israel and the US. One of the largest parties in parliament is the Islamic Action Front, which is both anti-Israel and anti-US. In addition, since the 1991 Gulf War, Jordan has taken in thousands of Iraqi refugees.