Jordan claims Iraqi attacks foiled

Authorities in Jordan have foiled two recent Iraqi attacks, including one by Iraqi diplomats allegedly planning to contaminate water supplies to Jordanian and US troops on the desert border with Iraq.

The second one – for which four Iraqis were arrested last week – allegedly involved a plot to bomb a luxury hotel used by Americans and other Westerners, including about 70 journalists, Jordanian sources said.

Jordanian Information Minister Mohammad Affash Adwan indicated that there had been Iraqi attempts to undermine Jordan’s security, but refused to go into details.

“This is purely a security matter which is being investigated and I can’t discuss it further,” he said in Amman.

The plot to contaminate water supplies involved five Iraqi diplomats expelled from Jordan on March 23, the sources said.

They declined to give further details, but said the water is pumped from Zarqa, 17 miles north-east of the Jordanian capital Amman.

Zarqa water plants feed distant villages in Jordan’s eastern desert, where there are several army and air bases, including one near the Iraqi border where hundreds of US soldiers are manning anti-missile batteries.