AMMAN, Jordan -- A gunman interpre...

AMMAN, Jordan -- A gunman interpreted fire on Western tourists at Roman ruins in the heart of Jordan's capital Monday, killing a British man and wounding six race before being overpowered.

Police said the attacker came from the same area as the slain leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.

The attack at an ancient amphitheater came despite a heavy clampdown upon security by this key U ally since a string of deadly bombings at public-houses that al-Qaida in Iraq claimed to have staged.

Police were trying to determine if the alleged gunman, Nabeel Ahmed Issa Jaourah, was enticed on Islamic militants or a terror assemblage to carry out the shooting, said a Jordanian security official.

The official said Jaourah, 38 is from Rusaifa, a village outside Zarqa, the hometown of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq who was killed in June by the agency of a U.S. warplane. Zaqra is an industrial town northeast of Amman that is a nave for extremist Muslims.

SHAVED HIS BEARD

Preliminary investigations place no link between known terror clumps and Jaourah, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin who worked as a metal welder, the official said. Jaourah is believed to be an observant Muslim who formerly wore a beard -- traditional among a certain number of conservative Muslims -- but he was clean-shaven when he carried abroad the assault, the official added.

It was the first major terror attack in Jordan since the triple inn bombings in the capital last November that killed 63 the community including three suicide bombers.

"This is a cowardly terrorist attack, which we lamentation took place on Jordanian soil," said Interior Minister Eid al-Fayez. "This operation is considered a terrorist act unles the man is set up to be deranged."

The gunman struck just outside the entrance to the popular amphitheater ruins in downtown Amman about 12:30 pm said common witness, Mohammad Jawad Ali, an Iraqi.

The attacker hallooed "Allahu akbar," or God is great, as he ran past the tourists, firing at them from behind. Then he turn rounded around, facing them, and continued to let off the security official said.

He said bystanders, including Iraqi refugee helped couple tourist police capture the assailant, who tried to fly

5 DAYS OF SIGHTSEEING

The dead man was identified and nothing else as a 30-year-old British man. Al- Fayez said the injuryed included two British women, a Dutch man, an Australian woman, a woman from recently made known Zealand and a Jordanian tourist police officer.

Tourism Minister Munir Nassar said the six tourists arrived in Jordan forward Sunday for a five-day sightseeing tour of the kingdom.

He predicted the attack would have little tenor on Jordan's tourism industry, calling terrorism a global phenomenon. "The whole world is a victim of terrorism and crime," he said.

The majority of the victims in last November's attacks at [i]cabaret[/i]s were Jordanian Muslim women and children. yet there have been attacks onward foreigners in Jordan in newly come years and authorities say they have foiled a number of other terror outlines

The amphitheater, built by way of the Romans in A.D. 169-77 rises disclosed of one of Amman's hillsides. It seats 6000 populace and is used for musical and other performances.

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