Jordan reportedly nabs suspect in convoy bomb

No group claims responsibility for failed attack.

By YAAKOV KATZ
allenby bridge 248 88 (photo credit: courtesy)
allenby bridge 248 88
(photo credit: courtesy)
Jordanian authorities arrested a cab driver on Thursday evening on suspicion that he planted an explosive device which detonated near an Israeli embassy convoy earlier in the day, according to the Saudi Al Arabiya TV network and the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news network.
No organization immediately claimed responsibility for the failed attack.
The bomb went off near a small convoy of vehicles belonging to Israel's embassy in Jordan on Thursday afternoon. No one was hurt in the incident, which occurred some 20 kilometers from the border crossing at Allenby Bridge, and the vehicles continued on to Amman.
The Foreign Ministry received a briefing on the blast. According to several reports, the ambassador was not traveling in any of the vehicles.
Two Jordanian security sources said the attack targeted a top Israeli diplomat in Jordan. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
The spokeswoman at the Israeli Embassy in Amman, Merav Horsendi, confirmed that there was a blast next to a convoy carrying embassy employees.
"All I can say now is that everyone is fine," she said.
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) was cooperating with Jordanian security authorities in investigating the explosion.
Channel 2 reported that after the explosion, the convoy entered a Jordanian army base and soldiers searched the area.
Due to the high threat in Jordan, embassy employees were put on a 24-hour lock-down, and are not allowed to leave the embassy premises without large security details.
The embassy in Amman is one of the most highly guarded Israeli embassies in the world.
Israeli security services overseas have been on high alert ahead of the second anniversary of the assassination of Hizbullah terror mastermind Imad Mughniyeh in February 2007 in Damascus.

A number of attempts by Hizbullah to avenge Mughniyeh's death have been thwarted, including a plot to bomb Israel's Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan last year.
As report recently in The Jerusalem Post, the defense establishment is concerned that Hizbullah would make an effort to strike an Israeli target ahead of the anniversary of Mughniyeh's death.