Gunmen killed an American diplomat outside his home Monday morning in Amman, Jordan's information minister said.
The diplomat, identified by security officials as Lawrence Foley, 56, was killed at 7:30 a.m. "One or two gunmen sprayed the diplomat with several shots, killing him instantly," Information Minister Mohammed Affash Adwan told Albawaba.com. The minister added that Foley was an official at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which handles foreign aid and humanitarian programs.
Adwan has strongly condemned "the criminal and treacherous act that took the live of the American diplomat." "This attack, regardless of its motives, is an attack on the country and its national security," he said, adding that he has full confidence in the Jordanian security authorities, and their ability to uncover the criminals and bring them to justice.
Witnesses said Foley was shot in the garage of his two storey villa in a neighbourhood close to Mecca Street in the Jordanian capital. Anti-terrorist experts and senior officials in the presence of U.S. security personnel were gathering information at the scene.
Later in the day, Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher went to the U.S. Embassy to express condolences and promised swift action to catch the perpetrator. "The Jordanian government is going to deal seriously with this horrible crime," the Jordanian news agency Petra quoted him as saying.
On its part, the US embassy in Amman urged its citizens to be vigilant. "The US embassy in Jordan has informed US citizens in Jordan of the incident and reiterated our recommendation that all US citizens remain vigilant in view of threats to American interests," a statement said Monday.
(Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
