Friday, November 11 2005 20:28 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Amman: Police have arrested at least 120 people, mainly Iraqis and Jordanians, in the nationwide manhunt for those behind the triple Amman hotel bombings, a senior police official said today (November 11, 2005).

The death toll in the attacks rose to at least 60, including the bombers, with the death of Syrian-American film director Mustapha Akkad. He was 75 and has suffered serious injuries and a heart attack in the Wednesday attack, which the al-Qaeda in Iraq terror group, headed by Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has claimed responsibility.

Thousands of Jordanians nationwide attended weekly Friday sermons in hundreds of mosques, which all performed special prayers "for the absent" to commemorate the bombing victims.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan flew into Amman to meet Jordan's King Abdullah II and the foreign minister. A second day of mass protests were expected to be held across Jordan to condemn the militants behind the attacks. Yesterday, thousands denounced al-Zarqawi and called for his death.

The police official had no details on the possible role of any of the 120 detained over Wednesday's suicide bombings on the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn hotels, Jordan's deadliest ever terror attacks and the first believed to have been carried out beyond Iraq's borders by al-Qaeda in Iraq.

"Scores have been rounded up in different parts of the country since the attacks," said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.