7 - 13 March 2002
Issue No.576
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 7 - 13 March 2002 Issue No.576 |
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Whose ruffled feathers?
A car bomb explosion targeting the head of Jordanian intelligence's anti-terrorism unit sent shock waves across the kingdom, Al-Ahram Weekly's correspondent reports from Amman
Last week's early morning car bomb explosion that killed two passers-by in an Amman street was unlike any other terrorist attack the Jordanian capital has witnessed in recent years. The target of this blast was General Ali Bourjaq, head of the Anti-Terrorism Unit of the General Intelligence Department.
That very few people knew of Bourjaq's work with the department points to the likelihood of the perpetrator being someone who had been exposed to Bourjaq's work, perhaps a suspect, informed security sources believe.
The bomb planted in Bourjaq's Toyota exploded a few minutes before he was to climb in and drive his children to school. An Egyptian and an Iraqi who happened to be passing by near the car when the bomb exploded were killed.
The sources say it was clear that the intention behind the failed assassination attempt was either to retaliate for Bourjaq's role in clamping down on terrorist groups in the country or to abort ongoing investigations into terrorist operations. Shortly after the blast, security authorities detained several people, but no clues to assist the case have yet been found.
Officials affirmed that the General Intelligence Department has mobilised all its resources to arrest those behind the blast. "The department sees it as the biggest challenge to its effort to fight terrorism and safeguard the security of the country," said a senior official.
Suspicions centred on individuals and groups with alleged links to Osama Bin Laden's Al- Qa'eda group.
"This cowardly act is an attack on the values of moderation, centrism and openness that Jordan represents," said Minister of State for Political Affairs and Information Mohamed Adwan. "It will not deter Jordan from continuing its fight against terrorism in all its forms and shapes."
Since the early 1990s, security forces, led by Jordanian intelligence, have uncovered the existence of a number of groups of so-called Arab- Afghans -- Arabs who volunteered to fight alongside the Afghan resistance against the Red Army during the 1979-88 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and who, upon returning to Jordan after the Soviet withdrawal, were suspected of carrying out terrorist operations.
Of the several hundred Jordanians and Palestinians carrying Jordanian passports who volunteered to help the Afghan resistance, some remained in Afghanistan and others are currently being held in US custody in Cuba's Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
Since 1990, dozens of Arab-Afghans have been convicted of plotting terrorist attacks in Jordan against places they considered symbols of "Western decadence" and of assassinating prominent government leaders. Many of them received life-long jail terms.
In late 2000, 28 men were charged with conspiracy to carry out terrorist attacks on US and Israeli targets and on a five-star hotel during the millennium celebrations in Jordan.
The State Security Court sentenced six of the defendants to death and handed down prison sentences of between seven and a half to 15 years with hard labour to 16 others. Thirteen of the defendants were tried in absentia. One of them, Raed Hijazi, was later arrested in Syria and granted a retrial in accordance with the law. The court upheld its guilty verdict against Hijazi and sentenced him to death.
Jordan was one of the first Arab countries to endorse and support the US-led war on terrorism. King Abdullah and senior government officials have said that it was only natural that Jordan would rally behind any action to punish those responsible for terrorism, since the country has long suffered from terrorist acts planned and executed by Al-Qa'eda.
"We are aware that our country's tough stand against terrorism has provoked the enmity of terrorist groups, some of whom have local links," said the senior official. "We are on perpetual vigil."
No one has claimed responsibility for last Thursday's blast, which also damaged three vehicles, one of which belonged to Bourjaq's wife. The explosion was the bloodiest attack to take place in Amman in a decade.
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