Abu Bakr as-Somali
18th July 2008, 07:36 PM
AMMAN, Jordan - A gunman shot and wounded six people near a Roman amphitheater in Jordan's capital Wednesday, authorities said.
The gunman shot himself in the head as he was chased by police, and was in critical condition, Jordan's state minister for information, Nasser Judeh, said. The six victims were not seriously injured, he added.
A police official identified the assailant as Thaer al-Weheidi, 19, a resident of Baqaa camp, the largest of 11 Palestinian refugee settlements in Jordan.
Judeh said the victims included four Lebanese, an Arab-Israeli woman and their Jordanian bus driver. He described the nighttime shooting as a "criminal" incident, and said it did not appear terrorist-related.
The police official said al-Weheidi has a criminal record and was implicated in previous cases of attempted murder and looting. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still under way.
There have been several shootings and other attacks in the Jordanian capital in recent years, some targeting tourists at the site of the amphitheater in downtown Amman.
The country's worst terrorist attack was a triple suicide bombing at Amman hotels that killed 63 people in 2005.
In a September 2006 shooting, a lone gunman fired on a group of Western tourists outside the amphitheater, killing a British man and wounding six other people.
In March, a man stabbed and wounded a German tourist as he was walking with his wife near downtown Amman's al-Husseini Mosque.
The gunman shot himself in the head as he was chased by police, and was in critical condition, Jordan's state minister for information, Nasser Judeh, said. The six victims were not seriously injured, he added.
A police official identified the assailant as Thaer al-Weheidi, 19, a resident of Baqaa camp, the largest of 11 Palestinian refugee settlements in Jordan.
Judeh said the victims included four Lebanese, an Arab-Israeli woman and their Jordanian bus driver. He described the nighttime shooting as a "criminal" incident, and said it did not appear terrorist-related.
The police official said al-Weheidi has a criminal record and was implicated in previous cases of attempted murder and looting. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still under way.
There have been several shootings and other attacks in the Jordanian capital in recent years, some targeting tourists at the site of the amphitheater in downtown Amman.
The country's worst terrorist attack was a triple suicide bombing at Amman hotels that killed 63 people in 2005.
In a September 2006 shooting, a lone gunman fired on a group of Western tourists outside the amphitheater, killing a British man and wounding six other people.
In March, a man stabbed and wounded a German tourist as he was walking with his wife near downtown Amman's al-Husseini Mosque.