Posted on 04/19/2004 10:56:40 PM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
AMMAN, Jordan (Reuters) - Jordanian security sources said Sunday they had thwarted a plot by militant Islamists to launch a deadly chemical attack that could have caused thousands of civilian casualties.
Two security sources told Reuters dawn raids earlier this month on the homes of suspected members of an underground group that planned terror attacks had uncovered quantities of raw chemicals prepared for a large-scale chemical attack.
The unspecified number of suspects also had explosives probably obtained locally or from a neighboring country and some appeared to have explosives expertise, they added.
The sources did not give details but indicated that one intended target was the large intelligence compound in the west of the capital. Jordanian officials and U.S. diplomats said the heavily fortified U.S. embassy was another target.
King Abdullah said last Wednesday that security forces had saved thousands of lives by preventing a terrorist group from attacking public places.
"Terrorists planned to bomb government agencies and strike civilian institutions" with explosives-packed cars, he said. Had they succeeded "we would not have witnessed anything like it before," he added, without giving further details.
Another security source said the timing of the release of information on a chemical attack was intended to coincide with Abdullah's visit to Washington, where he is scheduled to meet President Bush next Wednesday.
Officials disclosed earlier this month they had uncovered a group planning to carry out "terrorist attacks," arresting most of its members and hunting others.
The government has said nothing about the group's identity but security sources told Reuters the interrogation of some suspects revealed ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
Jordanian security sources said al Qaeda was incensed at the covert aid Jordan had given to the U.S. military campaign in Iraq and had tried to punish Jordan for supporting Washington's efforts to pacify post-war Iraq.
They said cars carrying explosives had been driven into Jordan from Syria. Both sides patrol the long desert border but smugglers often slip across it.
Jordan's powerful intelligence community has for years boasted that it had foiled plots by al Qaeda-linked militants to launch deadly attacks on Western targets and government installations.
Pesticides, Precursors, and Petulance (Iraq’s WMDs)
It could be a number of things.
I can't guess how this will finally shake out. Will the story explode or just fizzle away?
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