Chemical Weapons Attack Foiled in Jordan?

[jpillian]

Just saw this on Fox News -- though I haven't seen the story on any other major news network. Wouldn't you think this would be regarded as a big deal?

(The article is from a Lebanese newspaper)

-- Fox also reported that the chemical agent to be used was VX and was part of a stockpile located in Syria (this article attributes the weapons to central asia -- i.e., former Soviet republics)

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http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=2393

Jordan authorities foil chemical attack in Amman

Militants caught with explosives-laden cars confess plans to assault intelligence headquarters

By Rana Sabbagh-Gargour

Special to The Daily Star

Saturday, April 17, 2004

AMMAN: Jordanian authorities have foiled what could have been the first attack inside the kingdom involving deadly chemical agents by a group connected to a top militant heading Al-Qaeda operations in Iraq.

Several militant men, arrested with at least three cars laden with explosives, have allegedly told interrogators they were planning to stage a "spectacular" attack against the heavily-guarded headquarters of the General Intelligence Department (GID), using "deadly chemicals," sources said on Friday. The chemicals they were preparing could have easily killed at least 17,000 people living in an area almost 1 square kilometer surrounding the GID, perched on the outskirts of Amman, the sources told The Daily Star.

No details of the chemicals were given, some of which were smuggled into Jordan through illegal points of entry stretching across the vast Syrian-Jordanian border. Some of the agents are believed to have been bought on the black market in Central Asia.

According to sources, the group was allegedly planning to stage other attacks against the American Embassy in Amman as well as other US interests and some state symbols, such as the Prime Minister's Office, and other ministries, to avenge Jordan's pro-American policies.

The suspects have claimed that they were taking orders from fugitive Jordanian Islamist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, now in Iraq, where he heads Al-Qaeda operations against coalition forces, the sources added.

The Al-Qaeda militant network, led by Osama bin Laden, sought to punish Jordan for supporting Washington's goal of pacifying post-war Iraq.

Friday's revelations came two days after King Abdullah II praised the GID for thwarting the terrorist attack on Jordan, calling it "a crime that would have been unprecedented in the country in terms of the size and explosives used, and the manner of the execution."

Abdullah gave no further details of the attack.

On April 10, authorities announced the arrest of an unspecified number of suspects and intercepted two bombs near the northern town of Irbid. Syrian officials have denied any knowledge of the smuggling operations.

In mid-March, the United States increased its alert level in Jordan, urging Americans to step up vigilance after receiving information about possible attacks on hotels in the kingdom.

Jordanian authorities have tightened security over the last two weeks at various sites around the capital, including Western embassies, government institutions and key facilities.

Police are still hunting for a suspected Islamic militant in a nationwide hunt.

"They see Jordan as vulnerable target and believe any major attack to destabilize the country would weaken American goals in the region and particularly in Iraq," said one Western diplomat.

Jordan's close US ties and 1994 peace agreement with Israel are unpopular with many in the kingdom, and there is strong support for Islamist militant groups in some areas.

Jordan's GID, which over the last two decades has infiltrated many Jordanian Islamists who lived in Afghanistan and Pakistan, or trained at Al-Qaeda-run camps, is becoming a main source of information on Islamists for American intelligence agencies and other Western and Arab countries.

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Found the Fox News article as well:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,117414,00.html

AMMAN, Jordan — An Al Qaeda (search)-linked terrorist cell recently dismantled in Jordan was plotting to detonate a chemical bomb capable of killing thousands of people and to attack the U.S. Embassy and prime minister's office with poison gas, officials said Saturday.

Officials close to the investigation told The Associated Press that several terror suspects arrested in Jordan last month have confessed the plots were hatched by Jordanian militant Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi (search), thought to be a close associate of Al Qaeda boss Usama bin Laden.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the terrorist cell was planning to attack Jordan's secret service — the General Intelligence Department — with a chemical bomb that would have killed as many as 20,000 people and caused large-scale destruction within a half-mile radius.

Jordan's King Abdullah II (search) said this week in a published letter of thanks to his intelligence chief, Gen. Saad Kheir, that the arrests of the terror cell members have "saved thousands of lives."

In his letter, Abdullah said that had the chemical bomb plot not been uncovered, Jordan would have seen "a crime that would have been unprecedented in the country in terms of the size of explosives mounted on the vehicles and the methods of carrying out the attacks or the civilian locations chosen."

On Saturday, the officials told the AP that the terror cell was also apparently planning to carry out simultaneous poison gas attacks against foreign diplomatic missions, including the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy in Amman, vital Jordanian public establishments like the prime minister's office and unspecified civilian targets.

They declined to elaborate, but stressed the plot had been foiled with the arrests late last month and earlier this month of an unspecified number of terrorist suspects.

Jordanian officials say the arrests occurred after suspected militants entered Jordan from neighboring Syria in at least three vehicles filled with explosives, detonators and raw material to be used in bomb-making.

Syrian officials have denied the claims.

Among those arrested last week were two Palestinian militants identified as Suleiman Darweesh and Muwafaq Adwan, thought to be close associates of al-Zarqawi.

Another Palestinian militant, Azmi al-Jayoussi, is thought to be at large.

U.S. officials have offered a $10 million reward for al-Zarqawi's capture, saying he is trying to build a network of foreign militants in neighboring Iraq to work on Al Qaeda's behalf.

Al-Zarqawi is suspected of connection to about a dozen high-profile attacks in Iraq, including the bombing of the U.N. headquarters in August and Shiite religious ceremonies last month. Moroccan authorities believe he may have helped guide the Madrid train bombings. U.S. and Jordanian law enforcement say he funded the Oct. 2002 assassination of a U.S. diplomat in Jordan.

Jordan, a moderate Arab nation with close ties to America and a peace treaty with Israel, has been targeted by Al Qaeda and other terrorists. Twenty-two Islamic extremists were convicted of plotting to attack U.S. and Israeli tourists during the kingdom's millennium celebrations.

[Johnny Punani2]

I heard about this yesterday. Scary stuff! I'm glad it was stopped. The death toll would have been catastrophic. I read that it would have killed upwards of 20,000 people.

[Commander PK]

I wonder where the chemical weapons came from?

[BG]

That's impressive intelligence work.

Thank God this didn't happen. It would have been a horrific event........................