By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The family of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi wants to bury him in his hometown, but Jordan vowed the terror leader who killed Jordanians in a triple hotel bombing would never "stain" the country's soil.
Al-Zarqawi's family passed out candies to well-wishers who came by the house to celebrate his "martyrdom," bringing out into the open the vein of sympathy that ran through the community even after his clan officially renounced al-Zarqawi last year.
Al-Zarqawi's brother, Sayel al-Khalayleh said "I and all members of our family want him (Al-Zarqawi) to be buried in his home town of Zarqa."
"Everybody must understand that his place must be near his family," he told The Associated Press by telephone Friday. "He is a martyr and should be treated as such."
Security forces closed off the neighborhood around the family home, preventing reporters from approaching.
A top Jordanian security official said Friday that the government will not allow al-Zarqawi "under any circumstances" to be buried in Jordan and "stain Jordanian soil." He pointed to the killings in the Amman attack.