AMMAN, Jordan – Standing amid the rubble of the bombed out Radisson SAS Hotel banquet hall, Senator Clinton distanced herself from some Democrats, refusing to draw a link between the last Wednesday’s triple suicide bombings and the American invasion of Iraq.

“It’s important to remember that Zarqawi tried to this kind of thing before the war,” Mrs. Clinton said as most Jordanians were glued to their television sets watching the confession of Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, the female fourth suicide bomber, whose bomb did not detonate on November 9.

Mrs. Clinton cut short a visit with her husband and daughter to Israel yesterday to visit Amman and express the former first family’s condolences to King Abdullah II a day before Secretary of State Rice is scheduled to arrive here.

At the press conference here, Mrs. Clinton denounced the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq for believing only in “death and nihilism.”

In Jerusalem yesterday, Ms. Rice praised the response from religious leaders to the attacks. “Fortunately, now, leaders and clerics and private citizens are stepping forward and taking to the streets and calling this evil by its name,” she said. “This is a profound change and there are others.”

The triple bombings Wednesday at the Radisson SAS Hotel, the Hyatt, and the Days Inn come as Mrs. Clinton’s party has turned almost completely against the Iraq war many of them have already blamed for an increase of terror throughout the region. New York’s junior senator is an exception among the Democrats for her refusal thus far to recant her support for the war. She has not joined her colleagues in charging that President Bush manipulated intelligence to exaggerate the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

“There are certainly more suicide bombers now,” Mrs. Clinton said. “But Zarqawi has stated his opposition to the kingdom before. He is the exporter of terror. He is the source of this.”

The response was to a question about whether or not the Clintons believed the bombings were a result of the war in Iraq. Before answering, both Mrs. Clinton and her husband paused. President Clinton, who issued many public warnings about the threat of Saddam’s pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, deferred to his wife, saying, “You better ask her, she’s on the Armed Services Committee.”

The Iraq connection was on many minds yesterday. Only 48 hours beforehand, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for the triple bombings. Last night on Jordanian state-run television, Ms. Rashawi, who is the sister of a close associate of Mr. al-Zarqawi, confessed that she was supposed to enter the wedding party that ended in the bombings while wearing the de-activated suicide belt, Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher said in an interview with CNN.

“My husband wore a belt and put one on me. He taught me how to use it,” she said. “My husband detonated [his bomb] and I tried to explode my belt but it wouldn’t. … People fled running and I left running with them.”

Jordanian authorities yesterday confirmed that the team of four bombers infiltrated Jordan from Iraq. The Associated Press quoted Jordanian security officials as saying that Ms. Rashawi was arrested yesterday at a safe house in Amman that was purchased and furnished by her husband.

The televised confession could go a long way toward dispelling rumors here that the Israelis or other groups were behind the triple attacks. Mr. Muasher yesterday said that the suicide belt was further evidence that Al Qaeda was behind the attacks.

Mr. Muasher, who accompanied the Clintons during their Amman visit, also yesterday disputed a story in the Times of London’s Sunday edition. The article said members of Jordan’s military who were sympathetic to the aims of Al Qaeda were rounded up in security sweeps following Wednesday’s bombings. When asked by The New York Sun if that story was correct, he said, “It’s not true.”