Source: Khaleej Times
AMMAN - Jordanian authorities have foiled a plot by suspected militants linked to fugitive terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to murder four US archeologists, judicial sources said Wednesday.
A manhunt is underway for the suspected mastermind, Jordanian Ibrahim Zein al-Abidin, 36, whose accomplice and compatriot Jamil Katkat, 27, was arrested in October, the sources said.
Katkat and Abidine have been charged with “conspiracy to carry out terrorist acts” as well as illegal possession of a Kalashnikov rifle for illicit use, and could face the death penalty if found guilty, according to the charge sheet.
Katkat was said to be planning to attack the archeologists in the northern province of Irbid with a machine gun provided by his accomplice Zein al-Abidin, who is also wanted in another case.
A date for the trial has not been announced.
According to the charge sheet, the pair belong to Kataeb al-Tawhid (Unification Brigades), an outlawed group run by Zarqawi who has a 25 million dollar bounty on his head for a series of attacks in Iraq.
The fugitive Jordanian-born Islamist was sentenced to death by a military court here in April 2004 for the murder of a US diplomat and is facing a trial for allegedly ordering the chemical bombing of the intelligence headquaters in Amman.