Jordan: Al-Qaeda member captured
Jordan has arrested a senior member of the Al-Qaeda in Iraq militant group whose confessions will be broadcast on state television on Tuesday evening, a senior official said Monday.
“The Jordanian intelligence services have arrested an important figure in the Al-Qaeda in Iraq organisation led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his testimony will be broadcast by Jordanian television on Tuesday evening,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The official declined to elaborate on the identity of the detainee or the manner of his capture.
Another Jordanian official hailed the suspect’s arrest as “one of the most important foreign operations ever carried out by the Jordanian intelligence services”.
Triple suicide bombings of Amman hotels claimed by Al-Qaeda in Iraq in November killed 60 people, many of them wedding guests, sparking a wave of anger with the militant group among Jordanians.
An Iraqi woman accused of having intended to blow herself up as part of the operation was also paraded on state television after her capture, as were three alleged agents of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas who were detained last month.
The Al-Qaeda in Iraq chief, who carries a $25 million US bounty on his head, is Jordanian-born and has been sentenced to death three times in his homeland.