AMMAN, Jordan — The Jordanian authorities on Friday arrested the first suspects in connection with Wednesday's multiple suicide bombings, as the last of the victims were buried at cemeteries in and around the capital.
Jordan's deputy prime minister, Marwan Muasher, said security men had arrested 12 people, several of them Jordanians, in connection with the bombings, in which at least 57 people have died.
The initial arrests follow a nationwide manhunt for those with ties to the bombings or to al-Qaida in Mesopotamia, a group led by the Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Muasher said that it seemed likely the group had organized the bombings, but that the investigation was far from over.
Three suicide bombers tore through the lobby of the Grand Hyatt Hotel, a wedding party at the Radisson SAS Hotel down the street and outside the Days Inn Hotel several miles away on Wednesday night. More than half the victims were Jordanians; at least one was American, a spokesman with the U.S. Embassy in Amman said.
Among the dead were prominent Jordanians and Palestinians, many of whom were attending the wedding at the Radisson. They included the fathers of both the bride and the groom as well as several officials in the Palestinian Authority, notably Maj. Gen. Bashir Nafeh, head of military intelligence in the West Bank and Musab Khurmeh, deputy director of the Cairo-Amman Bank.
Doctors on Friday confirmed the death of Moustapha Akkad, the Syrian-born executive producer of the "Halloween" series of films, from wounds inflicted by the blast. Akkad is best known in the Muslim world for producing the film "The Message," which recounts the story of the birth of Islam. His daughter, Rima Akkad Monla, 34, also died in the bombings on Wednesday.
An Internet posting by a group claiming to be al-Qaida in Mesopotamia said Friday that four Iraqis, including a husband-and-wife team, had carried out the suicide bombings. The group's message, in its third posting in as many days, said the bombers were all Iraqis who had "vowed to die, and they chose the shortest route to receive the blessings of God."
Muasher said that the bodies of three suicide bombers had been recovered from the bomb sites and were undergoing DNA analysis, and that there was no direct evidence of a fourth bomber or a woman.
Jordan's land border with Iraq remained closed for the third straight day as a precautionary measure, he said, while security has been significantly tightened on all other border crossings.
As a shocked nation continued to come to terms with the horror, protests against the bombings continued for a second day, and the government-appointed imams harshly condemned the attacks in Friday sermons.
"He who assaults innocents is a criminal and an infidel, and no matter what he claims, he is a criminal who stepped outside the bounds of humanity," said the imam of the Maktoum Mosque in Zarqa, al-Zarqawi's hometown.