By Kim Ghattas BBC correspondent in Beirut

Jordan's Central Bank has retracted a decision to freeze accounts belonging to leaders of Hamas, the radical Palestinian organisation.

Islamists say Jordan is succumbing to US pressure

The bank had issued the same list of names that had been put out by the US administration in late August after a Hamas suicide attack in Jerusalem.

Islamist groups in Jordan had reacted angrily to the freeze order, saying it was humiliating for Jordanians to see their country succumb to US pressures once more.

Jordan is a key US ally in the region and signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1994.

But 60% of the country's population is of Palestinian origin.

It is unclear why Jordan's Central Bank has retracted its decision to freeze accounts belonging to Hamas leaders.

But the damage may have been done already.

Tainted image

The Central Bank's decision would not have helped Jordan's image in the region, where it is already criticised for being too keen to please Washington, and Hamas had already condemned the Jordanian decision as a response to American dictates and described it as dangerous.

A statement by the group said this made Jordan the only Arab and Muslim country to take such a decision against Hamas.

Jordan's Central Bank had initially ordered all banks in the country to freeze any accounts belonging to six leading Hamas leaders and to abstain from any financial transactions involving the Palestinian group.

But Hamas is not known to have any bank accounts in Jordan and there were already restrictions on the group since 1999 when Jordan expelled four Hamas leaders.