AMMAN, 1 April 2004 — Jordanian authorities have arrested an unspecified number of suspected terrorists plotting attacks in the kingdom, an official spokesman announced yesterday.
“Security men apprehended a number of people last night and this morning for suspected affiliations with terrorist groups and they are being interrogated,” the official news agency, Petra, quoted an authoritative security official as saying.
“The detainees, who have been planning subversive acts inside the kingdom, were found in possession of explosives,” he added.
He would not give the number of people arrested, nor name the organization with which they are suspected of having ties, saying only that “the investigation has only begun.”
Jordan has tried to crack down on Islamic militants plotting against US and Western interests in the kingdom, and has succeeded in dismantling several cells including ones linked to Al-Qaeda.
The Jordanian State Security Court is currently trying at least three groups of defendants who are suspected of having links with the Al-Qaeda group.
They are also charged with plotting acts of terrorism against US and Israeli interests in Jordan.
In one of the worst incidents, an official of US aid agency USAID, Laurence Foley, was shot dead at close range on Oct. 28, 2002, outside his home in west Amman by a gunman, triggering condemnation and shock in the US ally.
Authorities linked the attack to Jordanian national Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi, who is also suspected of taking a leading role in attacks in Iraq.
Zarqawi was also part of a 28-member cell uncovered by authorities here in 1999 and that had links to Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden. The cell was planning attacks on tourist and religious sites in Jordan.
He was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison along with 11 other cell members in a trial in September 2000, while six other members were sentenced to death.
In mid-March, the United States increased the level of alert in Jordan, urging Americans to step up vigilance after receiving information about possible attacks on hotels in the kingdom.
But Jordanian authorities were quick to ease concerns over security, saying Jordan had not received any threats.
