The United States strongly condemned a suicide bombing attack on the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad that killed at least 11 people and wounded nearly 60 others, the White House said Thursday.

"We condemn it in the strongest possible terms," White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan told reporters in Crawford, Texas, where US President George W. Bush is vacationing at his ranch. "There are remnants of the former regime in Iraq and there are terrorists in Iraq, both of whom are enemies of the Iraqi people. And we will continue to pursue them and root them out," she said. The blast, which occurred at 11:05 a.m. local time (0705 GMT) Thursday, set ablaze five passing vehicles and several other cars parking in front of the embassy.

(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2003)