Suicide Bombers Kill 57 at Jordan Hotels.

AMMAN, Jordan - Suicide bombers carried out nearly simultaneous attacks on three U.S.-based hotels in the Jordanian capital Wednesday night, killing at least 57 people and wounding 115 in what appeared to be an al-Qaida assault on an Arab kingdom with close ties to the United States.

The explosions hit the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn hotels just before 9 p.m. One of the blasts took place inside a wedding hall where 300 guests were celebrating — joined by a man strapped with explosives who had infiltrated the crowd. Black smoke rose into the night, and wounded victims stumbled from the hotels.

“We thought it was fireworks for the wedding but I saw people falling to the ground,” said Ahmed, a wedding guest at the five-star Radisson who did not give his surname. “I saw blood. There were people killed. It was ugly.”

Jordan’s deputy prime minister, Marwan Muasher, said nobody claimed responsibility but that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, was a “prime suspect.”