Jordan makes arrests for failed attack on Israel diplomats

Jordanian authorities have made a number of arrests in connection with Thursday's failed roadside bombing attack on an Israeli diplomatic convoy. Although the attack caused no injuries, the kind of bomb and the intelligence required to make such an attack are raising concerns about security breaches among Jordanian and Israeli authorities. According to Arabic media reports, Jordanian security officials have arrested a cab driver believed to have planted the bomb along the road between Amman and the Jordanian-Israeli border, and several other arrests in connection with the bombing.

One Jordanian official called the attack "a message" to Jordanian authorities and a sign that Jordan's security establishment could be infiltrated. Haaretz's analysis shows the perpetrators had very good intelligence and they knew that many Israeli diplomats, who normally live in Amman without their families, usually depart for Israel for the weekend on Thursday afternoon, and they knew how to identify the two-car convoy. Their analysis also speculates that the parties most likely responsible for the attack are either Hizbullah or Sunni extremists.