Yes, those are quotation marks (from The Times) you see arount the word
"terrorist".
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2342832,00.html
Briton killed in Jordan as 'terrorist' gunman opens fire on tourist party
By Rana Sabbagh-Gargour in Amman and Daniel McGrory
A BRITISH holidaymaker was shot dead and five other Westerners injured
when a lone gunman opened fire on a tour party visiting a Roman amphitheatre
in the Jordanian capital Amman yesterday.
Witnesses said that the death toll would have been much higher had the
gunman's pistol not jammed as he tried to reload. He was then overpowered by
locals.
Two British women were among those wounded in what Jordanian ministers
described as a terror attack deliberately aimed at harming Westerners.
Jordanian officials have named the dead Briton as Christopher Stokes,
30.
One of the injured, Karen Sparke, said that she had "a very lucky
escape".
Ms Sparke described the ambush to BBC News 24 last night from her
hospital bed. With her arm in a sling, she said: "We were walking up some
stairs at the amphitheatre and I thought I heard a firecracker behind us. We
turned around and saw this man pointing a gun at us and I got shot."
She remembered seeing a number of friends in the tour party lying on
the ground. "I went up the steps a bit further and I realised I was bleeding
all over. Then a really nice man from a shop came and told us to hide in his
store."
Saher Zarou, who runs a clothes shop, told The Times: "I wiped blood
coming from the back of one woman and from the thighs of two others before
police came and drove them to the hospital."
Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, who was in Amman, visited the
injured in al-Bashir hospital. She said that she was "extremely saddened" by
the shooting.
Last night she went on to Baghdad on an unannounced visit, her first
trip to Iraq since becoming Foreign Secretary.
British diplomats said that it was not yet clear whether the attacker
had deliberately picked out this mainly British party or had simply fired on
the first tour group that he saw.
A New Zealander, an Australian and a Dutch holidaymaker were also
among the injured, along with a policeman who was escorting the group after
security had been tightened around tourists.
Police were questioning the alleged gunman last night. He is a father
of five who comes from the same Jordanian town as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the
former head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, who was killed in a US attack on his
hideout in June.
Eid Fayez, the Interior Minister, said that police believed that the
gunman, Nabil Ahmad Jaaoura, 37, a blacksmith, was acting alone. He added
that the man "was determined to kill".
Survivors described how the gunman shot his victims in the back at
close range as they climbed the steep steps of the Roman amphiteatre, one of
the most popular tourist sites in the capital.
One of the female British victims, who had not been named, was said to
be seriously injured. She was in intensive care last night. The other
surviving Britons were under armed guard at a hotel.
It was the first major terror attack in the Jordanian capital since
suicide bombers belonging to the al-Qaeda group in Iraq blew up three hotels
last November, killing 63 people and wounding more than 100. Most of the
victims were Jordanian.
Yesterday, witnesses told how they noticed the gunman outside the
amphitheatre, close to a number of tourist buses.
Police want to discover how he apparently evaded new security checks
and was able to attack the crowd. He was described as clean-shaven and
wearing Western dress. They said that he had appeared calm and composed as
he strolled towards the tour group.
Witnesses said that when he was about 20ft from the party he pulled a
pistol from his pocket and shouted "God is greatest" in Arabic, then began
shooting.
As bystanders tried to run for cover, the gunman took careful aim and
is said to have fired up to 15 times before his ammunition ran out.
He was then seen trying to load another ammunition clip into the gun
but the weapon appeared to jam, and locals and tourist police jumped on him
as he turned to flee.
This busy, built-up area is populated by low-income Jordanian families
and Iraqi refugees who have fled the violence in their own country.
Ministers said that they had no doubts that the attack was aimed at
further harming Jordan's reputation as a safe location for Western
holidaymakers and was intended to damage efforts to promote the country's
tourist trade following previous terror attacks.
The Foreign Office has not changed its advice to British visitors, but
gives warning of a "high threat of terrorism" with westerners being a
particular target.
Jordanian security chiefs say that they have foiled a number of
attacks aimed at Western targets. In March the authorities seized a cache of
explosives and arrested three people who, it was alleged, were planning to
carry out a series of bombings in the capital.
TOURIST TARGETS
April 2006, Egypt
24 die in three bombings in restaurants and cafes around the Red Sea
resort Dahab
October 2005, Indonesia
20 killed in multiple suicide bombings in Bali
July 2005, Egypt
88 dead after three bombings in resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh
April 2005, Egypt
3 killed in suicide bombing in a Cairo bazaar
October 2004, Egypt
34 killed in attacks in and around the Red Sea resort of Taba. Bombers
target the Hilton hotel and campsites popular with Israeli tourists
May 2003, Morocco
33 die when a dozen suicide bombers target Western and Jewish areas of
Casablanca
November 2002, Kenya
16 die when a car rams through the gates of the Israeli-owned Mombasa
Paradise hotel, exploding outside the lobby
October 2002, Indonesia
202 murdered in bombings at two nightclubs and a US consular office in
Bali. 25 of the dead were British
November 1997, Egypt
62 killed by gunmen at the ancient temple of Queen Hatshepsut on the
west bank of the Nile at Luxor
begin 666 trans.gif
M1TE&.#EA`0`!`)$"````,P```/___P```"'Y! $```(`+ `````!``$`0 ("
$5 $`.P``
`
end
.
|
