The al-Qaeda network of Osama Bin Laden planned to blow up the bridges over the Jordan River on December 31, 1999, however the plot was uncovered by authorities around a month earlier, an Israeli television network reported on Monday.
The group included Palestinians with Jordanian citizenship, plus one Iraqi and an Algerian, Channel 2 reported.
They planned on driving cars packed with explosives onto the Allenby and Sheikh Hussein bridges on the eve of Millennium Day and detonate the charges, the report said.
The bridges link Jordan with the West Bank and are controlled by Jordan and Israel, which have customs posts and passenger terminals at both of them.
Israel’s Channel 2 said the al-Qaeda suspects might also have planned to use chemical weapons in the attack, though it did not elaborate. The television station provided no source for its report.
The group was trained in Afghanistan, Syria and Lebanon, the report said. It did not say whether the plot was uncovered by the Jordanian authorities, or Israel, or both, however it did say that not all the conspirators were caught.
The explosions were to be aimed partly at Christian pilgrims and Jewish tourists who might be at the terminals, Channel 2 said and added that the affair came to light following the US invasion of Afghanistan.
Israeli officials had no immediate comment regarding the report. (Albawaba.com)
