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Military prosecutor indicts five Jordanians in plot to attack tourists

Tuesday July 12, 2005
By JAMAL HALABY
Associated Press Writer

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) Prosecutors indicted five Jordanians in an alleged terror conspiracy Tuesday involving plans to attack intelligence agents, tourists and top hotels in the capital, Amman.

The officials said the plots were linked to Jordanian fugitive Mohammad Rateb Qteishat, who is believed to be in neighboring Iraq.

The prosecution's indictment said Qteishat planned the attacks and provided training and explosives to the suspects, who were arrested in February.

The four men, all in their early 20s from prominent families in the northern city of Salt, were accused of conspiring to commit terrorist attacks and possessing explosives. They could face the death penalty if convicted. None entered a plea.

Jordan, a close U.S. ally, has arrested scores of Islamic militants for plotting to carry out militant attacks in this moderate Arab kingdom. It has also sentenced numerous to death in absentia, including the wanted Jordanian-born al-Qaida in Iraq leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Al-Zarqawi has not been linked to the Qteishat-led plot.

The five-page indictment said the targets included three five-star hotels in upscale Amman districts, foreign tourists and Jordanian intelligence agents.

The defendants allegedly rented an Amman apartment to accommodate visiting militants who were to be sent by Qteishat to help in carrying out the terror attacks. Explosives and detonators were bought in Syria and smuggled into Jordan.

In another case, seven men were charged with carrying out acts harming a foreign country, including recruiting militants to fight U.S. troops in Iraq.

They allegedly recruited six militants, including Raed Mansoor al-Banna, who was accused of carrying out postwar Iraq's biggest suicide bombing the Feb. 28 attack in Hillah that killed 125 people.

http://cbsnewyork.com/international/Jordan-Terrorism-ai/resources_news_html