U.S. Embassy Was Poison Target

Al Qaeda plotted bomb and poison gas attacks against the U.S. Embassy and other targets in Jordan, two self-proclaimed conspirators confessed in videotape aired on Jordanian state television. A commentator said the plotters wanted to kill 80,000 people.

Azmi al-Jayousi, identified as the head of a Jordanian terror cell, said he was acting on the orders of Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian wanted by the United States for allegedly organizing terrorists to fight U.S. troops in Iraq on behalf of al Qaeda. U.S. officials have offered a $10 million reward for al-Zarqawi's capture.

Al-Jayousi said he met al-Zarqawi in neighboring Iraq to plan the foiled plot.

The 20-minute taped program released Monday by Jordan authorities contained what were described as confessions by two detained suspects about the foiled plot.

Officials said they had arrested the suspects in two raids in late March and early April. Last week, officials said four other terror suspects believed linked to the same conspiracy were killed in a shootout with police in Amman.

Government officials have said the suspects plotted to detonate a powerful bomb targeting Jordan's secret service and use poison gas against the prime minister's office, the U.S. Embassy and other diplomatic missions.

A commentator on the tape, said that al-Zarqawi "is the terrorist" who plotted this operation.

"At least 80,000 people would have been killed," the commentator said.

Another Jordanian suspect, car mechanic Hussein Sharif Hussein, was shown saying al-Jayousi asked him to buy vehicles and modify them so that they could crash through gates and walls.

The bearded Hussein, looking anxious, said al-Jayousi told him the aim was "carrying out the first suicide attack to be launched by al Qaeda using chemicals" and "striking at Jordan, its Hashemite (royal family) and launching war on the Crusaders and nonbelievers."

The U.S. blames al-Zarqawi for orchestrating many attacks on U.S. soldiers and civilians in Iraq, including the bombings in Basra last week that killed more than 60. He is also blamed for the October 2002 murder of U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley in Amman.

A Web site known for publicizing messages from Muslim extremists on Monday carried a purported claim of responsibility from al-Zarqawi for suicide boat attacks against Gulf oil terminals Saturday that killed three Americans and disabled Iraq's biggest terminal for more than 24 hours.

"I have pledged loyalty to Abu-Musab to fully be obedient and listen to him without discussion," al-Jayousi said in the Jordanian television segment. He said he first met al-Zarqawi in Afghanistan, where al-Jayousi said he studied explosives, "before Afghanistan fell." He said he later met al-Zarqawi in Iraq, but was not specific about when.

The videotape also showed still photographs of al-Jayousi and nine other suspects. The commentator said four of those pictured had been killed in clashes with security forces. Three of the slain men were identified as Syrians.

Al-Jayousi said he received about $170,000 from al-Zarqawi to finance the plot and used part of it to buy 20 tons of chemicals. He did not identify the chemicals, but said they "were enough for all the operations in the Jordanian arena."

Images of what the commentator said were vans filled with blue jugs of chemical explosives were included in the broadcast.

Hussein, the car mechanic, said he met al-Jayousi in 1999 but did not clearly say when the terror plans were laid out.

No trial date has been set in the case.

Airing suspects' confessions before their trial is unusual in Jordan. In 1998, six men accused of affiliation with a militant group confessed on television to planting a bomb that exploded outside an Amman hotel. Five years later, a court found them innocent.

The unusual move may be an attempt to answer critics who claim the government has exaggerated the terror danger to justify tightening security. Officials in Jordan, a moderate Arab nation with close ties to the United States and a peace treaty with Israel, say the kingdom has been repeatedly targeted by al Qaeda and other militant groups.

Several U.S. embassies in the Mideast have increased security precautions amid recent threats, but not in Jordan.

The United States last week ordered the departure of nonessential U.S. government employees and family members from Saudi Arabia. It also urged private citizens to leave the kingdom, and the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh issued an advisory warning of "credible indications of terrorist threats aimed at American and Western interests in Saudi Arabia."

Last month, as part of a tightening of security at U.S. installations in the region, the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh briefly closed after rumors spread of an explosion. The Embassy in the United Arab Emirates closed after a "specific threat" against it. Security was tightened even further near the embassy in Cairo, Egypt, and protesters were chased away from the embassy in Bahrain.

Those actions followed the State Department's March 23 worldwide caution which said it was "concerned by indications that al Qaeda continues to prepare to strike U.S. interests abroad."

"Future al Qaeda attacks could possibly involve non-conventional weapons such as chemical or biological agents as well as conventional weapons of terror," it warned.

A more recent, April 13 travel warning on Jordan said recent arrests there are "a reminder that terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, continue to prepare to strike U.S. interests abroad."

"U.S. citizens are encouraged to maintain a high level of vigilance, take appropriate steps to safeguard their security, and increase their security awareness," it read.