AMMAN, 8 July 2003 — Jordan said yesterday it had broken a cell of Islamist militants arrested before the Iraq war who planned to bomb embassies, resorts and US targets. The pro-government daily Al-Rai newspaper quoted security sources as saying state security prosecutor Col. Mahmoud Obeidat had been interrogating the suspects who were arrested by the country’s intelligence services before the war started.
The suspects, including four Saudis and one Syrian, have since been charged with committing acts of terror against US and Western interests, possession of explosives and membership of an illegal underground party. Their political affiliation or identity was not disclosed. They face the death sentence if convicted.
A security source told Reuters the suspects were caught in a crackdown by the authorities on underground Islamist groups suspected of planning attacks. In a separate development, 11 Islamists went on trial in Jordan last week for the murder of US diplomat Laurence Foley in October 2002 but the alleged mastermind, who US officials say has close links to Osama Bin Laden, remained on the run.
The authorities say those arrests also foiled a series of plots to attack US and Israeli targets in the kingdom. The murder of Foley came at time of rising anti-American sentiment in the region fuelled by US support of Israel and threats by Washington to wage war on Iraq.
Officials say the country’s espionage community has lent crucial help in recent months to both Western and Saudi intelligence in the war against Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network.
