AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — A man who walked into the headquarters of Jordan's largest opposition group on Monday claiming to have an explosive belt and threatening to blow himself up turned out to be a prankster, a senior police official said.
The man had entered the Amman offices of the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, where he showed off his purported explosives belt. As IAF officials tried to calm him down, police arrived and arrested the man.
Bomb experts who examined the belt later found it to be "fake," said the police official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with standing police regulations.
The official declined to speculate on the motive but said the man was being questioned for "inciting fear of an attempted attack."
The incident came as IAF and the Muslim Brotherhood have been taking to the streets across Jordan, pressing demands for change. The demonstrations have been inspired by uprisings across the Arab world.
Islamic Action Front leader Ali Abu Sukar said the man awoke suspicion of IAF officials as soon as he walked into the building. "They called the police, who immediately came and overpowered him," Abu Sukar added.
He said no one in the IAF had previously seen the man.
Jordan's government loyalists denounce the IAF, accusing it of refusing to give Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit enough time to introduce demanded reforms and of inciting protests.
Another Front leader, Jaafar Sabti, said he witnessed the incident.
"As we finished our noon prayers, a man walked into the building warning us that he was wearing an explosive belt and would blow himself up and tear our heads off," he said.
Sabti said the man opened his long Arabic robe to display the alleged explosive belt. He said the man spoke in a Jordanian accent, appeared to be middle-aged and was "possibly drunk because he smelled of alcohol."
"We tried to calm him down," Sabti said but the attacker accused the Front of "being against reforms and hating King Abdullah II."
The Islamic Action Front has refused to take part in a national dialogue on reform initiated by Abdullah. It wants the parliament — Jordan's only elected body, which is widely seen as docile — dissolved. It also seeks to reduce Abdullah's absolute powers, specifically in appointing prime ministers, and wants the premier to be elected by popular vote.
Suicide bombings are not commonplace in Jordan but in November 2005 a triple hotel suicide bombing later claimed by al-Qaida in Iraq killed 60 people — all Jordanian Muslims. It was the deadliest attack in the modern history of this key U.S. ally with diplomatic relations with Israel under a peace treaty signed in 1994.
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Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.
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