BAGHDAD, 22 March 2005 — King Abdallah has ordered the return of Jordan’s top diplomat to Iraq, a government spokeswoman said in Amman yesterday. Both countries had recalled their envoys at the weekend over reports that a Jordanian was behind the deadliest suicide bombing in postwar Iraq.

“An order was issued by the king because the recall of the charges d’affaires was seen as a withdrawal when the intention was only a recall for consultations,” spokeswoman Asma Khader told Reuters. “We wanted to confirm that this was not a matter of withdrawal of envoys.”

Jordan had said earlier yesterday the Jordanian and Iraqi envoys would return to their posts soon.

Iraqi protesters have burned Jordanian flags and broken into the heavily guarded compound at least twice since a suicide bombing killing 125 people south of Baghdad on Feb. 28, angered by reports that a Jordanian man was behind the blast and his family had hailed him as a martyr.

Meanwhile, US soldiers — ambushed by dozens of Iraqi rebels on a dangerous road near Iraq’s infamous triangle of death — responded by killing 26 insurgents in the largest single rebel death toll since last fall’s battle for Fallujah, the US military said yesterday.

The high number of deaths was attributed to the large number of attackers, unusual in a country where most clashes are carried out by small bands of gunmen or suicide attackers. While the US military made gains against the insurgency, the rebels staged attacks across Iraq yesterday, killing seven civilians and three Iraqi soldiers. A roadside explosion in Aziziyah, 55 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, killed four women and three children, police Capt. Falah Al-Muhmadawi said.

Explosions were also heard after nightfall yesterday in Baghdad’s Karradah district. Police said there were no immediate reports of casualties.

On Sunday around noon, as military police and artillery units from the Kentucky National Guard traveled along a road 30 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, between 40 and 50 militants emerged from a grove of trees and a roadside canal, firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. — With input from agencies