Amman, Jordan
The family of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi took out full-page ads in Jordan’s major newspapers this week denouncing him for the hotel bombings that killed 59 people in Amman. Al-Zarqawi, who was born Ahmed Fadheel Nazzal al-Khalayleh, is the leader of al Qaida in Iraq, which claimed responsibility for the bombings. “A Jordanian doesn’t stab himself with his own spear,” said the statement signed by dozens of members of the al-Khalayleh family. “We sever links with him until doomsday.” Al-Zarqawi had already issued an uncharacteristic apology for blowing up Muslim revelers at a wedding at one of the hotels. “We ask God to have mercy on the Muslims, whom we did not intend to target—even if they were in hotels which are centers of immorality,” he said.
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