Jordan says al Qaeda-linked terror plot foiled

AMMAN, Jordan Jordanian authorities have arrested 11 suspected al Qaeda-linked militants for allegedly planning to attack shopping malls and Western diplomatic missions in the country, the government said Sunday.

The plot is the first to be unveiled since a triple hotel bombing in Amman almost seven years ago, which killed 60 people. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack, citing its rejection of Jordan's alliance with the United States and its 1994 peace treaty with Israel.

Jordanian officials and Arab diplomats have been voicing concern over stability in the kingdom, which lies at a precarious corner in the Middle East, neighboring hot spots Syria, Iraq and the Palestinian territories.

The officials and diplomats, insisting on anonymity because they are not allowed to make statements to the press, have warned of possible plots to destabilize the kingdom. They say militants seek to use its territory as they consolidate their foothold in Syria - which lies on Jordan's northern border.

Announcing the foiled plot, government spokesman Sameeh Maaytah told an impromptu press conference that the suspects are all Jordanian and are in police custody.

"They were plotting deadly terror attacks on vital institutions, shopping centers and diplomatic missions," he said.

"They sought to destabilize Jordan," he said. "They plotted against Jordan's national security."

Jordan's state TV broadcast the names and headshots of the suspects - all men in their 20s and 30s, most of whom wore long beards. It identified them as "militants."

A Jordanian security official involved in the investigation said some of the 11 are affiliated with Jordan's banned Salafi movement, which promotes an ultraorthodox brand of Islam that considers other Muslims who do not follow its hardline theology as infidels.

Cell members will be put on trial in the military court, a date has not yet been set for the trial, the official added, insisting on anonymity because he is not allowed to comment before the trial opens.

Abed Shehadeh al-Tahawi, who heads Jordan's Salafis, told the Associated Press that he "recognized at least half of the people shown on television."

"They are members of my group, but they have nothing to do with what is said to be a 'terror plot'," he said.

He called the Jordanian government announcement a "bluff to justify a looming crackdown on my group and other good Muslims seeking freedom through the rule of Sharia (Islamic law)."

A statement by Jordanian intelligence said an investigation showed that the group "adopts the ideology of al Qaeda" and that it nicknamed its terror plot as "9/11 the second" - a reference to the Amman hotel blasts, which happened on Nov. 9, 2005.

Since June, the suspects have been surveying targets across the country, bringing in rockets from Syria to use in the alleged plot, the statement said, adding that the group also planned to carry out suicide attacks using explosive belts.

The militants sought to carry out their attacks in stages, it added, with initial attacks on shopping centers and foreigners in Jordanian hotels, followed by more deadly strikes with powerful explosives and chemicals on Western diplomatic missions and unspecified "vital national sites."

One attack involved firing rockets at a district in the Jordanian capital that houses the U.S., British and other diplomatic missions as well as housing for expats and Western diplomats.

The statement said al Qaeda "explosive experts" based in Iraq and elsewhere have assisted the suspects with manufacturing home-made explosives.

The statement did not say when the suspects were arrested, but Maaytah - the government spokesman - said Jordanian intelligence apprehended them in the past few days.

[Forty-Four]

Always good to see foiled plots and lives saved because of it.

[mark648]

This story cannot possibly be true! al-Qaeda is on it heels, I know because Obama told me so.

[julianpenrod]

To begin withm, this article deosn't belong in this section. This section is "Terrorism in the U.S.", and this is about a supposed plot in Jordan.
But, then, that illegitimacy goes with the entire subject of "terrorism". All "terrorist" acts are fabricated by the New World Order, of which Washington, D.C. is a criminal complicit party, to maintain a sense of overriding, universal, eternal fear among the gullible. Note the claim that this plot was built around attacking "malls and Western diplomatic massions". The "diplomatic missions" part is to play up to the sensibilities among the gullible in the wake of the September 11 event in Libya. As for having to carry out such elaborate plotting to hit malls, note that, on this same edition of CBS News, there is a report of a mass shooting at a mall in Muilwaukee! By a lone individual! From the Aurora incident to this, lone attackers have done more than the supposed "organization" "al Qaeda"! And note the hodgepodge, arbitrary, scaztteshot targets each time of all these plts. What's the connection between malls and diplomatic missions? They are in different areas and have different levels of concentation of people and security, among other things. The fact is, there is no such organization as "al Qaeda", either, it is all part of the wholesale lie.
Not that realizing the truth puts mankind at such an advantage. The second the New World Order feels its machination is in danger of being realized and mistrusted by the majority, they will launch a genuine act of murder to convince the gullible once more. Just believing does not good. And the dullards have ceded too much power to the NWO through their shiftlessness and wanton cravenness through the years for the NWO to be busted now. In short, God seems one of the few means of mankind gaining their rights, once more. But God isn't a gumball machine. To receive Hius assistance, the dullards and sell outs must wholly rehabilitate themselves into worthy, decent people. They must deserve being helped.

[one4gipper]

Wow, no wonder Obama has dropped his "al Qaeda is on the run" point from his campaign. With the hits on our embassies and a new plot against moderate Jordan and Obama's Arab spring look a bit misguided.

Add to this the fact that Egypt is now looking to Iran for Nukes. The Muslim Brotherhood which Obama supported to bring down Mubarak has been beating war drums against Israel, but knows that it dare not attack without a nuclear arsenal to assure that it is not annhililated. Good work Mr. President!