Two Israeli guards wounded in shooting attack in Jordan

JERUSALEM, Sept. 22 (JTA) – A previously unknown organization calling itself the Islamic Resistance has claimed responsibility for an attack on two Israeli Embassy security guards in Jordan. The guards, identified as Moshe Levin and Amikam Hadar, were lightly wounded in Monday’s shooting attack in Amman. Jordanian authorities launched a search for the assailants and offered a cash reward for information leading to their arrest. In a statement faxed to news agencies in Beirut and Amman, the Islamic Resistance said the attack was in reaction to “Zionist enemy actions in Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon.” It warned that attacks would resume in a month against Israeli targets. The group also demanded the release from prison of Ahmed Dakamsheh, a Jordanian soldier recently sentenced to life in prison for
the March shooting deaths of seven Israeli schoolchildren who were on a field trip to Naharayim on the Israeli-Jordanian border. Jordan’s King Hussein phoned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was on an official visit to Austria, to express his shock at the attack. The monarch promised that every effort would be made to apprehend those responsible for the attack. Netanyahu expressed his appreciation for Amman’s thorough handling of the situation and appealed to the Palestinian Authority to follow Jordan’s example in clamping down on terrorist organizations. The attack occurred Monday at about 7:30 a.m. near the home of one of the guards in a neighborhood of Amman. Israeli officials said at least one gunman opened fire from a passing car. The two security guards were taken to a hospital in Jordan, where one underwent an operation to remove a bullet from his leg. The other was treated for a thigh fracture.