Jordan Envoy in Turkey Slain; Jihad Takes Blame

A gunman shot and killed the first secretary of the Jordanian Embassy as he drove to work today, and a telephone caller claimed responsibility on behalf of the shadowy terror group Islamic Jihad.

Police identified the slain envoy as Ziad J. Sati and said he was killed at a stoplight a short distance from his home. They said he had been shot in the head four times.

They said four Turks and one Lebanese, each resembling the description of the gunman given by witnesses, had been brought in for questioning.

An anonymous caller told the Associated Press bureau in Ankara that Islamic Jihad, or Islamic Holy War, had killed the diplomat because he was a “lackey of imperialist powers.”

“Our actions against such people will continue,” said the caller, who spoke in unaccented Turkish. There was no way to verify the authenticity of the call.

On Monday, a caller claiming to represent Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for bomb blasts at an American airline office and a synagogue and Jewish nursing home in Copenhagen.

That caller said the group would begin making attacks in countries that previously had escaped its violence.

Islamic Jihad is believed by some to be an organization or network made up of fundamentalist Shia Muslims loyal to Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Others believe it may be only a label used by a collection of Shia groups.

A witness to Sati’s shooting said he heard shots, looked out his window and saw the gunman flee, tucking his pistol into his belt as he ran. The gunman then jumped in a car and escaped a bank guard who gave chase.

Sati’s car crashed into a minibus and then came to a stop against the nearby bank.

Sati, 40, had been in Turkey for three years.

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement in Amman calling the killing a “a tyrannical and cowardly act.” It vowed that Jordan, which has been spearheading a Mideast peace initiative with Israel, will not change any of its policies because of the incident.