A security guard was killed today when a bag exploded near the luggage screening area at Jordan's international airport.
Police arrested the suspected owner of the bag, a Japanese journalist returning from Iraq who said he had no knowledge that he an explosive device in his possession, said investigators.
The official Petra news agency said three other people were injured in the explosion. It called the bomb a "remnant from the war in Iraq."
The bag was checked on an EgyptAir flight to Cairo, the Egyptian capital, and exploded at about 6.50 p.m., said officials.
Panic ensued after the blast at Amman's busy Queen Alia International Airport, where passengers were either being checked in or departing to various destinations, including France, Egypt, Lebanon and Israel.
Queen Alia airport was one of the targets of a terrorist conspiracy foiled in November 1999. The plot involved 28 Arab men who planned attacks on US and Israeli targets in Jordan during millennium celebrations. Jordan military court in 2000 convicted six of the accused to death and acquitted six others.
AP