Jordan, Iraq Pull Envoys in Row Over Security

Iraq and Jordan engaged in tit-for-tat withdrawals of their ambassadors Sunday in a growing dispute over Shiite Muslim claims that Amman is failing to block militants from entering Iraq.

The diplomatic row erupted even as a Jordanian court sentenced Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born insurgent leader, in absentia to a 15-year prison term for his alleged role in a plot to attack Jordanian targets in Iraq. The sentencing was largely symbolic, since Zarqawi already has been sentenced to death twice by Jordan.

Tensions have been rising between the two nations since a Feb. 28 attack that killed 125 people in Hillah, south of Baghdad.

The Jordanian newspaper Al Ghad reported that Raed Mansour Banna, a Jordanian, carried out the attack, but later issued a correction, saying that it was not known where he had carried out his assault.

Banna’s family denied that he was involved in the Hillah attack, but said that he had carried out a different suicide bombing in Iraq. Zarqawi’s Al Qaeda group claimed responsibility for the Hillah bombing.

Jordan acted first Sunday, when Foreign Minister Hani Mulqi announced that his charge d’affaires in Baghdad had been recalled to Amman, Jordan’s capital.

“We are hoping that the Iraqi police will devise a plan to protect the embassy,” Mulqi said. Iraq responded in kind. “Iraqis are feeling very bitter over what happened,” Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said.

Both countries said the officials were being recalled for “consultations,” leaving open the possibility for their return.