Jordan Indicts Zarqawi, Militants

Jordan’s military prosecutor indicted Abu Musab Zarqawi, one of the most wanted insurgents in Iraq, and 12 other alleged militants Sunday for an alleged plot to attack the U.S. Embassy in Amman and Jordanian government targets with chemical and conventional weapons, government officials said.

The foiled plot was first revealed by Jordan in April.

Lt. Col. Mahmoud Obeidat summoned nine suspects already in custody and read them the charges in the indictment, the officials said on condition of anonymity. Among the nine was Zarqawi’s alleged Syrian right-hand man, Abu al Ghadia.

Four suspects, including Zarqawi, are at large and will be tried in absentia, the officials said. The trial is expected to begin in November.

Zarqawi and his group, Jamaat al Tawhid wal Jihad, are blamed for a string of bombings and other attacks in Iraq, besides kidnappings and slayings of foreign hostages, including three Americans who were beheaded.

Security officials have said the militants were plotting to attack the Jordanian prime minister’s office, the secret service agency, the U.S. Embassy in Amman and other sites. Security officials and some of the detainees, in televised confessions, have said the plot was linked to Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network.

Azmi Jayousi, the alleged mastermind of the cell who was captured in April, has confessed to military prosecutors that the group was planning a chemical attack, the officials said.

The charges against the 13 men include conspiracy to commit terror attacks in Jordan, possession and manufacture of explosives and affiliation with a banned group, the officials said.

The banned group in question has been identified as Kataeb al Tawhid, Arabic for the Battalions of Monotheism, a previously unknown group.

If convicted on all counts, the defendants could be sentenced to death.