The U.N. Security Council has urged all countries to cooperate in tracking down those responsible for the terrorist bombings in Jordan. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will visit the Hashemite kingdom Friday, one day later than originally planned.
The Security Council approved a statement calling on all U.N. member states to assist and support the investigation into the Amman hotel bombings. The 15-member body called all acts of terrorism "criminal and unjustifiable regardless of their motivation."
Jordan's U.N. Ambassador, Prince Zeid Al-Hussein, thanked the Council for, "reflecting the solidarity of the international community with the people of his country." Afterward, he expressed determination to bring the perpetrators to justice.
"This was an awful crime," he said. "Jordan is a small country. The victims are our brothers and sisters. They are our mothers and fathers, our uncles, people from villages, towns, they are Arabs, they are Muslims, and the people who committed this crime are criminals and inhuman."
The Jordanian envoy rejected a reporter's suggestion that the bomb attacks might affect Jordan's political stability.
"Like any country it comes as a shock, but we are resilient, we will be able to cope, and recover, and it's something that would shock the conscience of anyone, and we have consistently condemned all such attacks wherever they occur," he added.
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton called the Amman bombings a heinous terrorist attack. He pointed out that al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for both the Amman attacks and a terrorist bombing at a Baghdad café Thursday.
"The two terrorist bombings occurring in such proximity show that the fight against terrorism is one that really does involve all civilized nations, and that the terrorist acts that we've seen in Iraq over time are linked to the terrorist acts in a number of other countries," said Mr. Bolton.
A U.N. spokesman said Secretary-General Kofi Annan would travel to Amman Friday to visit King Abdullah and consult with U.N. staff. The secretary-general had originally been scheduled to visit the Jordanian capital Thursday, but postponed the trip after the bombings.
Amman has served as a base for many U.N. staff evacuated from Iraq after the August, 2003 terrorist attack on the world body's Baghdad headquarters. That attack killed more than 20 U.N. employees, including special envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.
