A look back on 16th anniversary of the Amman bombings

Untitled
A Jordanian man lights candles in commemoration of the anniversary of the Amman bombing in this undated photo. (Photo: Jordan News)
AMMAN — Tuesday marked the 16th anniversary of the terrorist bombings that targeted three hotels in the capital, Amman, which killed 60 people and wounded more than 200, according to Ammon News.اضافة اعلان

On November 9, 2005, at 9:30pm, the first explosion struck the entrance of the Radisson SAS Hotel. Minutes later, a second explosion targeted the Grand Hyatt Hotel. A third explosion then struck the Days Inn Hotel, all of which were carried out using explosive vests.

His Majesty King Abdullah addressed the Jordanian people after the bombings and said that this was not the first time that Jordan had been subjected to such terrorist attacks, and that Jordan was targeted more than others for several reasons, including Jordan’s role in defending Islam, as well as its role in defending the Palestinian cause.

The Amman bombings were an important turning point in Jordanian anti-terror efforts and legislation, and saw many precautionary and preventive measures implemented afterwards.

The bombings also strengthened the principles of moderation and self-awareness.

As for executive measures taken in response, the Jordanian government issued instructions to all banks operating in the Kingdom to comply with checking their customers’ accounts and making sure that balances were frozen at the government’s request, in addition to special instructions for combating money laundering. 

Jordan has taken a number of strict measures against terrorism, including issuing a law amending the Jordanian Penal Code, all legal references to terrorism issues were put into one law, and the law was in line with developments in the region and the world.

In 2014, the law was amended to redefine terrorism and expand it to criminalize a number of acts as terrorist acts, as well as toughening the penalties for terrorist acts, and imposing severe penalties on any act considered by the law to be a terrorist act, and criminalizing the formation of groups with the intent to carry out terrorist acts. 
 
The law was amended for the third time by giving additional powers to authorities and the security and military agencies in combating terrorist acts. 

The Jordanian security services now also conduct operations to exchange intelligence information with many countries and with Interpol. Some of these operations are conducted within the context of bilateral agreements for security cooperation. Security services monitor the sale and purchase of raw materials used in the manufacturing of dangerous materials to ensure that they are not used for terrorist purposes.

Read more National news