Jordan Plotters Sought to Spread Toxic Chemicals Across Country, Expert Testifies at Trial

Suspects in the foiled chemical attack in Jordan had hoped to spread toxic agents far beyond the sites of their planned attacks, a chemical expert testified at trial yesterday (see GSN, June 16).

“They sought to disperse poisonous gases which would have caused death, illnesses and blindness,” said Col. Najeh al-Azam of Jordan’s General Intelligence Department.

Nine suspects are in court, while senior al-Qaeda operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and three others are being tried in absentia for the alleged plan to attack the intelligence agency headquarters in Amman, according to the Associated Press.

The U.S. Embassy in Jordan’s capital and the prime minister’s office have also been reported as targets for the strikes.

Authorities seized plastic containers of hydrogen peroxide from the suspects, Azam said. The defendants planned to combine the substance with “ground black cumin” to create “an explosive substance stronger than TNT,” he testified.

Suspects were also found with oxygen, sulfuric acid and nitroglycerin, Azam said.

Such “extremely volatile” materials could be used in chemical weapons, Andy Oppenheimer of Jane’s Information Group told AP (Jamal Halaby, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, June 22).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.