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Al-Qaeda chemical attack in Jordan could have killed 80,000
Amman, Apr 27: Jordan foiled an al-Qaeda chemical bomb plot against the intelligence services HQ using trucks packed with 20 tonnes of explosives that could have killed as many as 80,000 people, security officials said today.
Amman, Apr 27: Jordan foiled an al-Qaeda chemical bomb plot against the intelligence services HQ using trucks packed with 20 tonnes of explosives that could have killed as
many as 80,000 people, security officials said today.
Members of the network, who were arrested or killed, also planned attacks on the Prime Minister's office and the US Embassy in Amman, the officials said on state television but without giving details on those targets.
Several suspects, including Jordanian ringleader Azmi al-Jayussi who was recruited in Iraq, were shown on television which aired their confessions. Jordan's King Abdullah II said on April 13 that the security services had dismantled a "terror network", thwarting plans by the group to commit "a crime never before seen in the kingdom" which would have killed thousands.
The television showed Jerry Cans said to contain chemicals, which officials did not name, and trucks "that the terrorists planned to load with 20 tons of chemical explosives in a suicide attack against the General Intelligence Department". "This operation, which would have been the largest in the history of the kingdom in terms of its volume and number of victims, would have killed 80,000 Jordanian citizens," the report said.
Six members of the network were arrested and four others killed in a series of raids, the last of which took place April 20, security officials said.
"Terrorist Ahmad Fadel al-Khalayleh, nicknamed Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, a prominent Qaeda leader, masterminded these operations," one security official said. Bureau Report
Several suspects, including Jordanian ringleader Azmi al-Jayussi who was recruited in Iraq, were shown on television which aired their confessions. Jordan's King Abdullah II said on April 13 that the security services had dismantled a "terror network", thwarting plans by the group to commit "a crime never before seen in the kingdom" which would have killed thousands.
The television showed Jerry Cans said to contain chemicals, which officials did not name, and trucks "that the terrorists planned to load with 20 tons of chemical explosives in a suicide attack against the General Intelligence Department". "This operation, which would have been the largest in the history of the kingdom in terms of its volume and number of victims, would have killed 80,000 Jordanian citizens," the report said.
Six members of the network were arrested and four others killed in a series of raids, the last of which took place April 20, security officials said.
"Terrorist Ahmad Fadel al-Khalayleh, nicknamed Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, a prominent Qaeda leader, masterminded these operations," one security official said. Bureau Report