The al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said on Friday that the suicide bomb attacks in three Amman hotels didn't target Muslims.

Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born militant, said in an audiotape released by a website often used by militant groups, that the Nov. 9 attacks on three luxury hotels in the Jordanian capital were intended to target a gathering of US and Israeli intelligence agents.

However, a roof collapsed in the attacks and killed many Muslims who were attending a wedding ceremony in one of the hotels, he said in the tape.

The attacks killed at least 57 people, mostly Jordanians, and wounded over 110 others.

Zarqawi, the top militant wanted in Iraq by the United States with a 25-million-dollar bounty on his head, also vowed in the tape more attacks on foreign targets and apostates.

The al-Qaeda in Iraq, a driving force behind a bloody insurgency against US forces and the US-backed government in Iraq, has claimed responsibility for many deadly attacks in the violence- ravaged country.

Source: Xinhua