ZARQAWI DISOWNED AGAIN

News report from Ireland Online

More than 370 members of the clan of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi joined his family today in publishing a full-page letter in Jordan’s newspapers that disowns the most notorious terrorist in Iraq.

The letter was the family’s second attempt in 20 days to convince Jordanians that it has renounced all ties to the man who has claimed responsibility for the November 9 attacks on Amman hotels in which three suicide bombers killed 60 people and wounded hundreds of others.

“We, the sons of the Bani Hassan tribe in all its branches in the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan,” said the letter published in four leading newspapers today, “support and express solidarity with our cousins, the al-Khalayleh clan, and their decision to sever relations with the terrorist Ahmad Fadheel Nazzal al-Khalayleh, who calls himself Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.”

Al-Zarqawi, whose real name is Ahmad Fadheel Nazzal al-Khalayleh, uses a name derived from the Jordanian city where he was born, Zarqa, 17 miles north-east of Amman.

In Iraq, he runs the al-Qaida in Iraq group, which has carried out several of the biggest attacks in the insurgency. The United States has offered a reward of $25m (€21m) for information leading to his capture.

“We condemn all terrorist actions carried out or claimed by this individual - actions which are alien to members of this tribe,” continued the letter, which bore the stamps and signatures of more than 370 clan members.

The Bani Hassan is one of the largest of Jordan’s nearly 100 major Bedouin tribes, which form the bedrock of support for the royal family. Its members hold senior posts in the army and other government departments.

Referring to family of King Abdullah II, the letter added: “We reiterate our support for the Hashemite Crown which, God willing, will always be protected, and we uphold the pledge of our ancestors to be a sword in the hands of the noble Hashemite dynasty.”

In a similar letter on November 20, almost 60 members of al-Zarqawi’s extended family disowned him and pledged fidelity to the crown.

Al-Zarqawi has claimed responsibility for several terror attacks in Jordan, including a plot to cause a chemical explosion that would have killed thousands of people, according to government experts. The plot was foiled in April 2004.

A Jordanian court condemned him to death in absentia for planning the attack that led to the 2002 murder of US aid worker Laurence Foley.