Iraq says Jordan harbouring ‘terrorists’

The comments by government spokesman Laith Kubba came a day after security officials in Jordan said several people, including Iraqis, have been detained as suspects in a rocket attack that missed a US Navy ship in Jordan’s Red Sea port of Aqaba.

“It is regrettable to say that until now there are big numbers of elements, not only former regime elements, but supervisors of some terrorist groups who are in Jordan,” Kubba told reporters on Sunday.

Kubba also said that 281 foreign fighters are in Iraqi detention including 80 Egyptians, 64 Syrians, 41 Sudanese, 22 Saudis and one Briton.

Iraqi Baathists

“There are also some people from Jordan that are working in Iraq but, of course, neither the Jordanian government nor state is responsible for that,” he added in an apparent reference to Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaida in Iraq group.

Several Iraqis were detained  after the Aqaba attack

He also said that Saddam’s family is in Jordan “with huge amounts of money, and they support … political and media activities and they even support attempts to revive (Saddam’s) Baath Party organizations.”

Relations with Jordan have been strained since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Tension spiked after a Jordanian was erroneously blamed for a bombing earlier this year in the southern city of Hillah that killed 125 people. Then some Iraqi officials went as far as calling for severing relations with Jordan.

Speaking about those who use Jordan to launch attacks in Iraq, Kubba said “from an Iraqi point of view, we consider this an unacceptable act and a hostile act because of what Iraq is passing through”.

Foreign fighters

“There should be no differentiation between the terrorist attacks that take place and those who finance terrorism,” he said.

He said Jordan, Syria and the United Arab Emirates are being used as “safe havens” for elements that “support and practice terrorist acts in Iraq.”