Premier vows pursuit of terrorists outside Jordan

Jan 11, 2010, 19:18 GMT

Amman - Jordanian Prime Minister Samir Rifai on Monday defended his country's cooperation with the CIA in hunting al-Qaeda terrorists who were behind the 2005 bombings at three of Amman hotels.

He told the official Petra news agency that Jordan would continue to wage operations against terrorists outside the country 'in coordination with others'.

'Our war against terrorism will continue, because we are part of this world and this requires coordination with others as well as an exchange of information,' Rifai said.

'We will be present in any place as long as our national security necessitates that?and we will reach our enemy anywhere and protect our security regardless of sacrifices,' he added.

Rifai said that the Amman hotel bombings were instrumental in 'developing our preventive security strategy'.

The blasts, which killed at least 60 people and wounded hundreds others, were claimed by the Jordanian fugitive Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, who then headed al-Qaeda's branch in Iraq.

Al-Zarqawi was killed in a US airstrike inside Iraq in 2006 and the Jordanian intelligence conceded to have played a role in hunting him.

Rifai spoke against the backdrop of the death of one of Jordan's top intelligence officers, Captain Ali bin Zeid, along with seven CIA agents in a suicide bombing that was carried out by a Jordanian physician at a forward US base in Khost, Afghanistan, on December 30.

According to US media, the bomber, Humam Balawai, was a double agent who was due to brief a meeting at the base on the whereabouts of al-Qaeda number two Ayman Zawahiri, but instead blew himself up killing the eight people.