A British tourist has been killed and six others wounded after a man opened fire on them in Amman.

Witnesses said the man fired at least 12 bullets before he finished his ammunition and was overpowered by police and arrested.

The attack took place on Monday afternoon in a crowded part of central Amman close to a Roman amphitheatre - an area popular with tourists.

Nasser Joudeh, a government spokesman, said that two British people, a Dutch citizen, a New Zealander, a Dutchman and their Jordanian tour guide were wounded during the shooting.

Jordanian officials said they were investigating whether the man acted on his own or belonged to a radical Islamist group.

The shooting is the first attack in the pro-western kingdom since scores of people died in triple suicide bombings in luxury hotels claimed by al Qaeda last November.

During a visit to the hospital where the wounded were being treated Marouf al-Bakheet, the Jordanian prime minister, said: "We will ascertain in the next period whether this was a sole act or whether this individual is a member of a terrorist cell."

Eid al-Fayez, the Jordanian interior minister, described the incident as a "cowardly terrorist attack, which we regret took place on Jordanian soil".

Indifference

Muhammad Jawad Ali, an Iraqi man who witnessed the shooting, said: "I was walking when I saw someone pull out a pistol from his pocket and start shouting Allahu Akbar [God is Great] and fire repeatedly.

"Then I saw one tourist who appeared to be dead and three who were injured. They were in a group of seven. A woman told me they were tourists from New Zealand and England."

The gunman has been identified as Nabil Ahmad, a Jordanian in his late thirties and a resident of the industrial town of Zarqa, on the eastern outskirts of the capital, Jordanian officials said.

He is believed to have acted on his own.

Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip and war in Lebanon, which has killed some 1,400, has raised tensions in Jordan where anti-Israeli feelings are running high.

Many Jordanians are angry about what they see as western indifference towards the plight of Palestinians.

Photo Caption

Police cordoned off the area around a Roman amphitheatre