The United States has vowed to help Jordan investigate a deadly series of suicide bombings that killed 56 and wounded more than 100 people in three Western hotels in Amman on Wednesday. Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attacks in a posting on an Arab-language Web site, linking the action to the war in Iraq, according to The Associated Press.

The nearly simultaneous explosions occurred when suicide bombers detonated bombs at the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn hotels shortly before 9 p.m. One of the explosions was in a hall where 300 people were gathered for a wedding. The dead and wounded were mostly Jordanians, but also included two top Palestinian security officials.

Shortly after the blasts, Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher said that al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was a "prime suspect." Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi is known for his hatred of Jordan's ruling family and while the claim of responsibility did not name King Abdullah II, it referred to the "tyrant of Jordan" two times.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice condemned the bombings and pointed to them as fresh evidence of the challenge the U.S. faces in fighting terrorism. "It again shows that people will take innocent life without any remorse," Rice said, according to the AP. She also promised Jordan that the U.S. would "stand together, unwavering, to defeat the evil that threatens our people and way of life."

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said President Bush also condemned the attacks and vowed to help Jordan with whatever it needs to pursue those behind the attacks. "The president condemns in the strongest possible terms the vicious terrorist attacks against innocent civilians," McClellan said. "Jordan is a close friend of the United States, and we will offer every possible form of cooperation in investigating these attacks and assisting in efforts to bring these terrorists to justice."

The incidents prompted police in New York to step up security details at hotels in the city on Thursday, according to CNN. Meanwhile, police in Jordan enacted a security lockdown around the bombed hotels and authorities collected DNA samples from the scene in an attempt to identify the attackers.

According to a CNN report, all three bombers were wearing bomb belts and walked into the respective hotels. The bomber who struck at the Days Inn reportedly walked up to the bar, ordered an orange juice and attempted to set off his belt, which failed. He left, returning 15 minutes later to detonate the belt in the middle of the hotel's lobby. The Hyatt bomber also detonated his belt in the hotel's crowded bar and the Radisson attacker walked through the lobby to a reception hall where a wedding was taking place before setting off his explosive.

The still-unverified al Qaeda claim of responsibility said that Jordan had become a target because, it was "a backyard garden for the enemies of the religion ... a filthy place for the traitors ... and a center for prostitution." The claim also contained a warning to the U.S. that the "backyard camp for the crusader army is now in the range of fire of the holy warriors."

Al-Zarqawi, one of the most wanted men in the world, has a $25 million bounty on his head courtesy of the U.S. He was sentenced to death in absentia by a Jordanian military court for the October 2002 assassination of a U.S. diplomat, Laurence Foley, in Amman. He is best known as the mastermind behind a string of suicide attacks in Iraq, mostly against U.S. targets. But he has also been accused of trying to blow up the Radisson SAS in Amman as part of the "Millennium plot" in 1999 and an August attack on a U.S. Navy ship in the Jordanian port of Aqaba that killed one Jordanian soldier.