Jordan has arrested 17 militants linked to al-Qaida who were allegedly plotting to attack U.S. troops and Jordanian intelligence agents, a military prosecutor said Thursday.
The militants belonged to the Iraqi chapter of al-Qaida, which is led by the Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and a previously unknown Saudi group called the Brigades of the Holy Shrines, said prosecutor Maj. Fawaz al-Otoum in a statement.
"Jordan's public security forces brought before me 17 people who belonged to two terror organizations," al-Otoum said in the statement. "Both groups devised plots to attack officers of the Jordanian intelligence department and U.S. military personnel in Jordan."
Al-Otoum said the accused were also involved in "recruiting men and collecting contributions to carry out terror attacks."
Initial charges include "plotting to carry out terror attacks and destroying Jordan's relations with a foreign country," he added. People convicted of terror attacks can be condemned to death in Jordan.
Jordan's security forces stepped up their vigilance after warnings of attacks on Western targets in the kingdom following last month's bombings in London and the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik.
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