AMMAN, 30 August 2005 — The Jordanian government has established contacts with the Iraqi authorities to ensure the extradition of three suspects — two Syrians and an Iraqi — who earlier this month masterminded the explosions at the Red Sea port of Aqaba that targeted a US warship and the Israeli port of Eilat, Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher announced yesterday. “We are in touch with the Iraqi authorities to ensure the extradition of the suspects for trying them in Jordan,” Muasher said at a weekly media briefing.

Responding to a reporter’s question, Muasher denied that the Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr, who was supposed to visit Amman on Friday, had postponed the trip in protest against Jordan’s failure to assume firmer control of the border with Iraq.

Alluding to the responsibility of the Iraqi government in this respect, the Jordanian minister said that the three suspects entered from Iraq to Jordan on Aug. 6 in a Mercedes the fuel tank of which was changed to accommodate seven Katyusha rockets that were used in the attack. “The postponement of the Iraqi minister’s visit has been for purely procedural reasons that pertain to the approval of the draft of the new Iraqi constitution,” Muasher said. “He intends to visit Jordan in the coming few days,” he added.

Jordanian Interior Minister Awni Yerfas said last week that he intended to raise with his Iraqi counterpart the issue of the involvement in the Aqaba blast of three suspects who came from, and fled to, Iraq.

Muasher also dubbed the draft Iraqi constitution set for referendum in mid- September as “an internal Iraqi issue,” but called on Iraqis to back the document with a view to shoring up stability in the war-torn country. “The draft constitution is an internal Iraqi issue, but what is of particular interest to us in Jordan is to see the document enjoy the largest national concord,” Muasher said. “Such harmony will boost the unity and cohesion of the Iraqi people and help the emergence of a stable Iraq.”

The Iraqi constitutional committee signed off on a draft version of the constitution Sunday, two weeks after the original Aug. 15 deadline for completion.