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The General Intelligence Department has foiled a major terrorist plot while in the planning and preliminary stages. The plot by a group of 11 terrorists associated with the ideology of Al Qaeda, was designed to target and carry out attacks against vital targets in Jordan including shopping centers, residential areas, diplomats and foreign nationals. The objective of the plot, labeled as 9/11 (2) in reference to the Amman hotel bombings of 2005, was to cause chaos and anarchy and spread fear among the population, setting the stage for further operations to follow. The group had intended to take advantage of...

AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan foiled a major plot by an al Qaeda-linked cell to destabilize the key U.S. ally's security by bombing shopping centers and assassinating Western diplomats, state television said on Sunday. Security forces detained 11 suspects in connection with a plot going on since June to carry out attacks in the capital Amman using smuggled weapons and explosives brought from Syria, according to security officials cited by television.

Iraq's al Qaeda said on Thursday it had carried out the triple bomb attacks on Amman hotels, according to an Internet statement. "A group of our best lions launched a new attack on some dens... After casing the targets, some hotels were chosen which the Jordanian despot turned into a backyard for the enemies of the faith, the Jews and crusaders," the statement said. The statement said Iraq's al Qaeda, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, would later give more details on the attacks, but did not say if they were carried out by suicide bombers. The bombings tore...

AMMAN, Jordan - Al-Qaida claimed responsibility in an Internet posting Thursday for three suicide attacks on Western hotels that killed at least 57 people, as police clamped down on security and began running DNA tests to try to identify the bombers. The nearly simultaneous attacks late Wednesday also wounded more than 115 people, police said. Several arrests were made overnight, although it was unclear if those arrested were suspects or witnesses. The claim of responsibility, signed in the name of the spokesman for the group Al-Qaida in Iraq, said that "after studying and watching the targets, places were chosen to...

Jordanian authorities announced Monday that they had arrested a "prime suspect" in the rocket attack on two US warships in the Jordanian port of Aqaba, reports The New York Times. Friday's attack missed the two US vessels moored in Aqaba for training exercises, but killed one Jordanian soldier and severely wounded another. It was the most serious attempt to harm Western interests in Jordan since US diplomat Lawrence Foley was murdered in the capital of Amman in 2002. Hours after Jordan announced the suspect's arrest, Al Qaeda in Iraq – headed by now-infamous Jordanian militant, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi – claimed...

The Central Intelligence Agency runs a top secret interrogation facility in Jordan, where at least 11 detainees who are considered Al-Qaida's most senior cadre are being held, Haaretz has learned from international intelligence sources. Since the war in Afghanistan ended three years ago, reports spoke of these special detainees being held outside the United States, but no location was mentioned. A report on these prisoners issued Tuesday by the Human Rights Watch organization claims they are being held somewhere so secret that U.S. President George Bush asked the CIA heads not to report it to him. Haaretz's international intelligence sources...

AMMAN, Jordan (AP)--Three more militants have been arrested since April in connection with an al-Qaida-linked plot to attack the U.S. Embassy and Jordanian government offices with chemical and conventional weapons, officials said Sunday. The arrests announced Sunday bring to nine the number detained in the alleged plot. Four others were killed in a police shootout on April 20, while another four remain at large, including Jordanian militant Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, thought to be directing anti-U.S. attacks in neighboring Iraq and to be a close associate of al-Qaida boss Osama bin Laden, the officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity....

:[Full text of confession]Al Qaeda Plans Terrorist Attack in Chemical Weapons against Jordan www.petra.gov.jo/nepras/2004/Apr/26/19114500.htm Amman/ April 26/ (Petra-Official Jordan News Agency)-- Al-Qaeda terrorist group was planning to launch its first terrorist attack with chemical weapons against Jordan, a leader and members of Al Qaeda terrorist gang confessed Saturday. The confessions were made by Azmi Al Jayousi and other members of the gang and aired tonight by Jordan television. The terrorist attack was masterminded by terrorist Ahmed Fadheel Al Khalayleh, nicknamed Abu Mus'ab Al Zarqawi, a top leader of Al Qaeda, Jayousi said. Zarqawi identified the targets and named the recruited...

<p>April 27, 2004 -- Diabolical al Qaeda terrorists confessed yesterday to plotting to attack the U.S. Embassy and other targets in Jordan with sophisticated chemical bombs that could have wiped out 80,000 people.</p> <p>Azmi al-Jayousi, leader of the terror cell, said the fiendish plan also targeted the headquarters of Jordanian intelligence and the prime minister's office.</p>

AL-QAEDA LINKED terrorists were plotting to detonate a large-scale chemical bomb in Jordan that could have killed up to 20,000 people, plus also attack the US embassy and Prime Minister's office with poison gas, officials said yesterday. Officials close to the investigation said several terror suspects arrested in Jordan last month had confessed that the plots were hatched by Jordanian militant Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, thought to be a close associate of al-Qaeda boss Osama bin Laden. The officials said the terrorist cell was planning to attack Jordan's secret service, the General Intelligence Department, with a chemical bomb that would have killed...

Saturday, Apr. 17, 2004 11:23 AM EDT Foiled Al Qaeda Attackers Caught Red-Handed with WMDs Two members of an al Qaeda cell connected to top terror master Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have been caught in Jordan with chemical weapons and poisonous gas for a planned attack that Jordanian officials say would have killed up to 20,000 people. The officials told the London-based newspaper al-Hayat on Friday that the al Qaeda plotters planned to launch a WMD attack against a Jordanian Military Intelligence installation, the US embassy in Amman and a government building in the country. According to the Israeli newspaper Maariv,...

Jordan 'was chemical bomb target'Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists planned a chemical attack on Jordan's spy headquarters that could have killed 20,000 people, officials have said. Earlier this week King Abdullah said a massive attack had been thwarted by a series of arrests, but named no target. Now unnamed officials say the suspects have confessed to plotting to detonate a chemical bomb on the Amman HQ of the Intelligence Services. The plot was reportedly hatched by al-Qaeda suspect Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi. Washington has accused the 38-year-old Jordanian radical of masterminding a string of spectacular suicide bombings in Iraq. 'Deadly gas' An official involved in...

Al Qaeda warning by king of Jordan Abdullah says his forces thwarted major bomb plot Robert Collier, Chronicle Staff Writer Saturday, April 17, 2004 ©2004 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ URL: sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/04/17/MNGLO66QRH1.DTL Jordan's King Abdullah II, asserting that Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network is "still very, very effective," said Friday that his security services had foiled a plot to blow up major government buildings and perhaps the U.S. Embassy in Amman. In a wide-ranging interview with The Chronicle's editorial board, Abdullah, who is Washington's closest ally among Arab leaders, gave a bleak assessment of the fight...

Al-Hayat: Plot to detonate charge at military installation could have killed 20,000 people, experts say. Terror cell connected to al-Qaeda mastermind Zarqawi. The terror cell that was apprehended last week in Jordan planned to carry out a large-scale chemical attack, Jordanian officials told the al-Hayat London-based newspaper. According to the officials, the successful prevention of the attack may have saved thousands of lives. The report added that the terrorists planned to detonate a powerful chemical bomb at a Jordanian Military Intelligence installation. The cell also intended to use poison gas during attacks on the US embassy in Amman and a...

A Jordanian court has sentenced eight Islamic militants to death for the murder of a United States diplomat in the capital Amman 18 months ago. Jordanian authorities say the men are linked to the Al Qaeda terror network. Laurence Foley, a diplomat with the US Agency for International Development, was shot dead outside his Amman home in October of 2002. The Jordanian court also sentenced two other men to 15 years in jail in connection with the killing. Jordanian authorities say at least one of the men sentenced to die - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - has connections with Al Qaeda....

AMMAN, Jordan - Jordan's military prosecutor has charged three Iraqis with plotting terror attacks against American and Israeli targets in the kingdom with rockets and hand grenades, government officials said Friday. The Iraqis — two in Jordanian police custody and one at large — will be tried in the military State Security Court soon, the officials said in announcing that the alleged plot was uncovered and foiled in October. The indictment against the men did not say what exactly the men intended to target. The men were arrested Oct. 12, when their vehicle — with the weapons concealed in it...

AMMAN, Jordan -- Jordan's military prosecutor has charged three Iraqis with a botched terror conspiracy that involved attacking unspecified American and Israeli targets in the kingdom using rockets and hand grenades, government officials said Friday. The Iraqis - two in Jordanian police custody and one at large - will be tried in the military State Security Court soon, the officials said in the first public announcement on the case since the plot was uncovered and foiled on Oct. 12. No date has yet been set for the trial, the officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The three...