Smash hit

Eid Fayez, the Interior Minister, said that police believed that the gunman, Nabil Ahmad Jaaoura, 37, a blacksmith, was acting alone. He added that the man “was determined to kill”.

Survivors described how the gunman shot his victims in the back at close range as they climbed the steep steps of the Roman amphiteatre, one of the most popular tourist sites in the capital.

One of the female British victims, who had not been named, was said to be seriously injured. She was in intensive care last night. The other surviving Britons were under armed guard at a hotel.

It was the first major terror attack in the Jordanian capital since suicide bombers belonging to the al-Qaeda group in Iraq blew up three hotels last November, killing 63 people and wounding more than 100. Most of the victims were Jordanian.

Yesterday, witnesses told how they noticed the gunman outside the amphitheatre, close to a number of tourist buses.

Police want to discover how he apparently evaded new security checks and was able to attack the crowd. He was described as clean-shaven and wearing Western dress. They said that he had appeared calm and composed as he strolled towards the tour group.

Witnesses said that when he was about 20ft from the party he pulled a pistol from his pocket and shouted “God is greatest” in Arabic, then began shooting.

As bystanders tried to run for cover, the gunman took careful aim and is said to have fired up to 15 times before his ammunition ran out.

He was then seen trying to load another ammunition clip into the gun but the weapon appeared to jam, and locals and tourist police jumped on him as he turned to flee.

This busy, built-up area is populated by low-income Jordanian families and Iraqi refugees who have fled the violence in their own country.

Ministers said that they had no doubts that the attack was aimed at further harming Jordan’s reputation as a safe location for Western holidaymakers and was intended to damage efforts to promote the country’s tourist trade following previous terror attacks.

The Foreign Office has not changed its advice to British visitors, but gives warning of a “high threat of terrorism” with westerners being a particular target.

Jordanian security chiefs say that they have foiled a number of attacks aimed at Western targets. In March the authorities seized a cache of explosives and arrested three people who, it was alleged, were planning to carry out a series of bombings in the capital.

TOURIST TARGETS

April 2006, Egypt 24 die in three bombings in restaurants and cafés around the Red Sea resort of Dahab

October 2005, Indonesia 20 killed in multiple suicide bombings in Bali

July 2005, Egypt 88 dead after three bombings in resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh

October 2004, Egypt 34 killed in attacks in and around the Red Sea resort of Taba.

May 2003, Morocco 33 die in suicide bombings in Casablanca

November 2002, Kenya 16 killed in attack on the Israeli-owned Mombasa Paradise hotel

October 2002, Indonesia 202 murdered in bombings at two nightclubs and a US consular office in Bali. 25 of the dead were British

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