A British man was killed today when a lone gunman shouting "Allahu Akbar!" ("God is Great") started firing at a group of Western tourists in the Jordanian capital Amman.

Five other tourists - two British women, one Australian woman, one New Zealand woman and a Dutch man - were injured in the attack as well as a Jordanian policeman.

The dead Briton was named by Jordanian officials tonight as Christopher Stokes, 30. His family in the UK are said to be "devastated" at the news and his mother had to be sedated.

The attack happened at around 10.30am (0730GMT), as the group was preparing to leave the Greco-Roman amphitheatre, a busy attraction in downtown Amman.

Karen Sparke, one of the British women injured in the shooting said she had a "very lucky escape".

Speaking from her hospital bed, Ms Sparke told BBC News 24: "We were walking up some steps when we heard - well, I didn’t realise it was a gunshot, I thought it was a firecracker - and we turned around and saw this man pointing a gun at us and I got shot."

She said she had looked over and seen her friends lying on the ground. "I went up the steps a bit further and stood round the corner, and I realised I was bleeding all over," she said. "We lost one of ours, and two of them have had operations."

She said everyone who had looked after them had been "marvellous". "The locals came and dragged us away to protect us and then they got the ambulance," she said. "I’m just really tender. I had a very lucky escape. It’s not real at the moment."

The gunman, in his 30s and named by officials as Nabeel Ahmed Issa Jaourah, was a Jordanian from the town of Zarqa, the birthplace of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the slain former al-Qaeda frontman.

Mr Jaourah was arrested and officials are now investigating whether he was acting on his own or belonged to a radical Islamist group.

The attack is the first to hit Amman since November 9, when triple suicide bombings on three Amman hotels killed 60 people. Those attacks were claimed by the al-Qaeda in Iraq group then led by al-Zarqawi. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the latest attack.

Rana Sabbagh-Gargour, Times Correspondent in Amman, said that the attack came amid rising antagonism towards the West.

"There is mounting frustration on the streets of the Arab world with the West, especially with the United States and Europe, over its perceived bias on the Middle Eastern conflict, Iraq and Lebanon," she said. "It is putting pressure on moderate Arab governments to revisit their politics and limiting their ability to manoeuvre."

Although the Foreign Office has not changed the level of its advice, it does warn travellers of a high threat from terrorism.

Saeed Darwazeh, the Jordanian Health Minister, said that one of the two British women was in intensive care but did not elaborate on her condition.

He added that the Dutch man had undergone an operation to repair his liver pierced by a bullet and said the New Zealander was expected to undergo surgery to remove a bullet. The rest were said to be in a stable condition.

Eyewitnesses said that Mr Jaourah was high up inside the amphitheatre when the attack took place. He was described as clean-shaven and dressed in a normal shirt and trousers.

Maaruf Bakhit, the Jordanian Prime Minister, said that the gunman has a "police record" but did not elaborate any further. Security sources identified Mr Jaourah as a blacksmith who is married with five children.

Mohammad Jawad Ali, an Iraqi who witnessed the shooting, told Reuters news agency: "I was walking when I saw someone pull out a pistol from his pocket and start shouting Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest) and fire repeatedly."

Responding to the attacks, Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, said: "Acts of violence such as this are as senseless as they are callous. Our Embassy in Amman is offering every possible assistance to those involved. We are very grateful to the Jordanian authorities for their prompt and efficient response and we will continue to offer them our full support."

Nasser Jawdeh, a government spokesman, said that Jordan was "confident" in the level of security observed nationwide. "These murderous acts, whether they are the result of a lone gunman or if it is anything else, will not deter us in any way from fighting and combating terror," Mr Jawdeh said.

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