'Al-Qa'eda plot would have killed 20,000' 
By David Blair in Amman
(Filed: 19/04/2004) 


Terrorists linked to al-Qa'eda were poised to detonate a chemical bomb in the heart of Jordan's capital, Amman, that would have killed 20,000 people and contaminated a large area, it emerged yesterday.

  
 
King Abdullah praised Jordan's intelligence service for foiling a "crime never before seen in the kingdom". The target was the headquarters of the General Intelligence Department, on a hill in the city.

An official close to the investigation said three vehicles had been found, each filled with explosives, detonators and "primary materials" for making a chemical bomb. Had this device exploded, the official said, an area exceeding half a square mile would have been contaminated.

The terrorists also planned gas attacks on the American embassy in Amman and the office of Faisal al-Fayez, the Jordanian prime minister.

An undisclosed number of suspects have been arrested. Suleiman Darweesh and Muwafaq Adwan, two Palestinian militants linked with al-Qa'eda, are understood to be among them.

Jordan says the vehicles were smuggled over the border from neighbouring Syria. Syria has denied this.

 16 April 2004: Bin Laden threats aimed at Europe's voters 
 14 April 2004: Jordan averts 'thousands of deaths' 

   External links   
  
 Middle East Online 
  





 
 





 
 

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