debkafile: Al Qaeda’s Iraqi leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi attempts to defend himself in face of popular rage in Jordan

In an audiotape released Friday, he claimed his suicide bombers had not targeted Muslim wedding parties in Amman last week.
More than 200,000 Jordanians meanwhile marched through the town center calling Zarqawi a coward, a villain and enemy of God for the attacks that claimed 57 lives in three hotels.
In a purported audio tape, Zarqawi argued that a meeting of Jordanian, American and Israel intelligence officers was al Qaeda’s target at the Radisson, but no such casualties were announced. He said the blast had brought the roof down over the wedding party.
debkafile adds: To assuage the outcry against him in Arab countries, the terrorist chief insisted that the al Qaeda bombers blew themselves up on an upper floor of the Radisson hotel – not among the wedding guests. This claim is made up of two falsehoods. There was indeed a meeting of intelligence officers – not in the Radisson but the Grand Hyatt which was also hit. Its participants were all Arabs – Jordanian, Saudi, Egyptian and Palestinians intelligence officers. The two Palestinians, Jordanians and a Saudi officer died in that blast.