Jordan has foiled a planned suicide bomb attack on “a vital civilian installation,” official state-run media has reported.
Two Iraqis and a Libyan, believed to be members of the al-Qaeda terror network, have been arrested in connection with the plot, Petra news agency reported.
Police are said to be hunting several other militants, including a Saudi Arabian and three Iraqis.
In November 2005, 54 people died in a triple hotel bomb attack by al-Qaeda.
Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Judeh said the militants had planned to attack a “vital civilian facility” in the capital in Amman, but he refused to give further details about the nature of the target.
Mr Judeh told the Associated Press that police had made the arrests after gaining new intelligence.
State-run TV showed photographs of the three detained men, along with images showing automatic rifles and bomb making materials.
“The intelligence services seized 4kg (8.8lb) of heavy explosives,” a statement from an unnamed security official read out on state TV said.
Jordan has clamped down on Islamic extremists in the wake of last November’s deadly bomb attacks on three hotels in Amman, which were carried out by al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Correspondents say that before the attacks the group’s leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi appeared to enjoy a certain sympathy in some sections of Jordanian opinion, but that November’s attacks eroded that sympathy very sharply. [source]
UPDATE:
The government said three militants were arrested — a Libyan national, Mohammad Darsi, 25, who was to be the suicide bomber, and two Iraqis — Muhsen al-Lousi, 34, and Abdul Karim al-Jumaili,48, who gave him logistical support.
They had been under surveillance by the security forces. The circumstances and exact timing of their arrest was not revealed.
Three Iraqis and a Saudi militant known as Turki Nasser Abdullah, 25, were part of the plot and were believed to be in hiding in an undisclosed neighboring country, state television said.
A security source told Reuters they had leads to indicate the four fugitives were in a secret hideaway in Syria.
…Those arrested would go on trial at the state security court soon, a security source said. The source said they had undergone detailed interrogation. [source]
It’s been a very busy day for Jordan, particularly the security forces. The nation has a lot to be thankful for I think. Not only did the prison riots led by AlQueda members end “well” so to speak, but an attack on a civilian target by other AlQueda members was stopped.
Kudos to our security forces, that’s all I can say really.
UPDATE: Thursday 2nd 2006
The General Intelligence Department (GID) late Wednesday arrested a fourth suspect in connection with a foiled suicide attack on vital civilian installation, an official said on Thursday. The official said Iraqi Saad Fakhri Younis Nueimi, 40, who was out of the country, gave important confessions, adding that the GID was still interrogating the suspect and searching for a Saudi and two Iraqi fugitives in connection with the terror plot
Another important success for our security forces. It is obvious that Al Qaeda are determined to hurt Jordanian people and we must be prepared and ruthless against all kinds of fundamentalism and terrorism. Although security forces do the most important role in intelligence but the main responsibility lies with the Jordanian public to stop the infiltration of terrorism to Jordan. God bless Jordan and thanks to all the “Nashama” at the security forces.
Looks like equipment for a traditional attack, not a suicide missiom (no explosive belt). A “vital civilian instillation” probably means a hotel.
I agree. Try them and execute them quickly. No need for them to indoctrinate other prisoners.
The “sticks” in the second picture are dynamites which you use to blow things up. To make it a suicide bombing you need to set them up with a fuse. I can’t understand the reason for the guns and RPG rocket, you don’t walk with them for a suicide bombing.
Is execution legal in Jordan? And what is the state security court?
Searched for the info myself. Apparently execution is legal (at least in the 2003 sentence of Zarqawi) and the state security court is a special court tier though I couldn’t find what special rights it has that normal courts do not. The only difference I found was that it has both civil and military judges.
Thank God they were stopped before doing anything with those weapons to hurt others.
This goes back to what I said earlier in a comment on another post a few days ago. How do we know these people are associated with Al Qaeda? They appear to be criminals who had bad intentions that’s almost clear now, but where are their Al Qaeda badges or ID’s? Do their cell phones have Osama programmed in the phone book? Do they have stamped envelopes with “2112 N. Al Qaeda Dr.” return addresses written on the back?
If they are Al Qaeda members and can be proven to be Al Qaeda members, which I don’t think makes any difference in this case, then so be it, but if they can’t be proven to be Al Qaeda members, then lets not call them that.
It’s not that I’m defending Al Qaeda here, far from it, but I’m defending the people’s right to receive good and reliable information that enables them to have a clear image of reality around.
We seem to have closed the discussion on whether Al Qaeda is a criminal organization or not, and the answer seems to be “yes they are”. From that point onward, if we let governments get away so easily with labeling individuals as Al Qaeda members and therefore convict them with Al Qaeda’s crimes without having to show full proof of it, then we will be setting the stage for violations of our own rights in the future.
In this particular case, there’s enough proof that these people are criminals. So if I were the person issuing statements from the government today, I wouldn’t have said they were Al Qaeda members without saying something about a link being established between them and known members of Al Qaeda. And even if I had that kind of information, I wouldn’t release it, because it would be too good of an alert signal to whoever these people are linked to and are still on the loose. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t even make public the fact that I detained these individuals and publish their full names and pictures like that. If these people really have friends who helped them into the country or friends from outside that we had some chance of getting at, now that chance is blown.