'Al-Qa'eda plot would have killed 20,000'
By David Blair in Amman
(Filed: 19/04/2004)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...ord19.xml&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=93631
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.
By David Blair in Amman
(Filed: 19/04/2004)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...ord19.xml&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=93631
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.
