The Jordanian Government yesterday gave the names of three Iraqi men and an Iraqi woman who took part in the suicide attacks against luxury hotels in Amman.

Deputy Prime Minister Marwan al-Muasher said the woman, who failed to blow herself up and was in custody, was the wife of one of the attackers and the sister of a late lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.

She would be shown on television later in the day, he said.

The three bombers died in the attack, which left 57 dead.

Muasher told a news conference the attackers entered Jordan four days before Wednesday's near-simultaneous attacks. The four left their apartment and took taxis to their targets, the Radisson SAS, Grand Hyatt and Days Inn hotels.

Al-Shamari and his wife, both dressed as they were going to a party, entered a ballroom where a wedding reception was being held at the Radisson hotel wearing explosives belts under their clothes to "inflict the largest number of casualties," Muasher said.

The would-be woman bomber failed to detonate her explosives belt after apparently struggling with its primer cord, Muasher said.

Noticing the woman struggling with the bomb, Muasher said: "Her husband pushed her out of the ballroom. Once she was out he blew himself up."

The bomber used the powerful explosive RDX also packed with ball bearings to kill as many people as possible, Muasher said.

It was unclear where police arrested the woman, who will make a televized confession on state-run TV later in the day.

Investigations showed that no Jordanians were involved in the actual attacks, but several Jordanian followers of al-Zarqawi have been arrested, the deputy premier added.

Iraq's al-Qaida, led by Jordanian-born Zarqawi, had claimed the blasts that killed 57 people at three hotels in Amman. It said in an Internet statement that a married couple and two other men all Iraqis had carried out the attacks.

On Saturday, Muasher said the attackers were three males, but rejected speculation that a woman had been among them.

All four bombers were from Iraq's western desert province of Anbar, bordering Jordan, he said, adding they had avoided contact with Jordanians apparently in an effort to avoid Jordanian security forces which have foiled previous attacks.

Muasher named the three dead men as 23-year-olds Safar Mohammed Ali and Rawad Jasim Mohammed Abid and Ali Hussein al-Shimeri, aged 35.

(China Daily November 14, 2005)