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Jordan plot 'aimed to kill 80,000'
Jamal Halaby in Amman
28apr04
THE Al-Qaeda terror network plotted bomb and poison gas attacks against the US embassy and other targets in Jordan, suspects confessed in a videotape broadcast on Jordanian state television yesterday.
A commentator said the plotters hoped to kill 80,000 people.
One of the alleged conspirators, Azmi al-Jayousi, said he was acting on the orders of Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian wanted by the US for allegedly organising terrorists to fight US troops in Iraq on behalf of Al-Qaeda.
US officials have offered a $US10 million ($13.6 million) reward for his capture.
Al-Jayousi, identified as the head of a Jordanian terror cell, said he met al-Zarqawi in neighbouring Iraq to plan the attacks.
The 20-minute taped program, aired yesterday, contained what were described as confessions by the suspects, who were arrested a month ago.
Officials said four terror suspects believed linked to the conspiracy died in a shootout with police in Amman last week.
On the tape a commentator, who was not identified, said the plotters targeted Jordan's secret service, its prime minister's office and the US embassy.
"At least 80,000 people would have been killed," the commentator said.
He said al-Zarqawi "is the terrorist who plotted this operation".
Another Jordanian suspect, car mechanic Hussein Sharif Hussein, was shown saying al-Jayousi asked him to buy vehicles and modify them so that they could crash through gates and walls.
Hussein said al-Jayousi told him the aim was "carrying out the first suicide attack to be launched by Al-Qaeda using chemicals . . . striking at Jordan, its Hashemite (royal family) and launching war on the Crusaders and non-believers".
"I have pledged loyalty to Abu-Musab to fully be obedient and listen to him without discussion," al-Jayousi said in the Jordanian television segment.
He said he first met al-Zarqawi in Afghanistan, where al-Jayousi said he studied explosives, "before Afghanistan fell". Al-Jayousi said he later met al-Zarqawi in Iraq, but was not specific about when.
The videotape also showed still photographs of al-Jayousi and nine other suspects. The commentator said four had been killed in clashes with security forces.
Three of the slain men were identified as Syrians. But Syria has denied Jordanian claims that militants involved in the plot entered Jordan from Syria.
Al-Jayousi said he received about $US170,000 from al-Zarqawi to finance the plot and used part of it to buy 20 tonnes of chemicals.
He did not identify the chemicals, but said they "were enough for all the operations in the Jordanian arena".
Images of what the commentator said were vans filled with blue jugs of chemical explosives were included in the broadcast.
Hussein, the car mechanic, said he met al-Jayousi in 1999 but did not clearly say when the terror plans were laid out.
Al-Jayousi said he and Hussein bought five vehicles, including a truck which was to be filled with explosives and used to attack the intelligence department. At least two vehicles had forged licence plates and car registrations.
Citing unidentified technical experts, the commentator said al-Jayousi had made enough explosives to cause "two explosions – conventional and chemical – which were to have directly affected an area within a 2km radius".
Al-Jayousi said he began making the explosives in a secret lab. Another detained terror suspect, Ahmad Samir, said he had worked in one of the labs for two months.
Airing suspects' confessions before their trial is unusual in Jordan. The move may be an attempt to answer critics who claim the Government has exaggerated the terror danger to justify tightening security.
Officials in Jordan say the kingdom has been repeatedly targeted by Al-Qaeda and other militant groups.
Associated Press