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AMMAN — The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) on Wednesday held a ceremony to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the Amman hotel bombings at the Martyrs’ Park in Abdoun.
Amman Mayor Aqel Biltaji, survivors, families of the victims and others gathered to stress Jordan’s unity and power to confront terrorism.
Biltaji recalled the painful memory, as he has lost friends in the terrorist attack on the Grand Hyatt Amman, and condemned it for targeting Jordan’s stability and security.
On November 9, 2005 a string of coordinated suicide attacks targeted the Radisson SAS Hotel — now known as the Landmark Hotel — Grand Hyatt and Days Inn hotels, killing 60 people and injuring 115 others.
At the Radisson SAS, the suicide bombing targeted a wedding reception, killing 36.
Commemorating the anniversary is a celebration of Jordanians’ unity, the mayor said, recalling that nearly 2 million people took to the streets “spontaneously” to show their unity and denounce terrorism.
Ashraf Al Khaled, whose wedding was targeted in the bombings, said that the memories of those that Jordan has lost live on, giving people the power to
keep Jordan safe.
“In this day we salute the people who were killed… and we keep their memory alive. They’re giving us the power so we can continue going in our lives to keep Jordan safe and to try to confront this ideology [terrorism] which has been rising tremendously in the last couple of years,” Khaled told The Jordan Times.
He lost his father and the parents of his wife — Nadia Alami — in the Amman bombings.
Biltaji watered the “Life Tree” at the park, and honoured the victims’ families.
Jordan Riders went in a procession around Amman in the memory of the 2005 victims.