Foiled Jordan attack not chemical-'Qaeda tape'
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-04-30 16:05

An audio tape purportedly from suspected al Qaeda operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said his group had intended to attack Jordanian intelligence but denied the Amman government's accusation they planned a chemical attack.

The tape, broadcast by Arab satellite television Al Arabiya and Islamist Web sites on Friday, accused Jordanian authorities of lying and of extracting "false" confessions from militants under torture.

Jordanian state television has aired what it said were confessions by captured militants linked to al Qaeda who said they had planned chemical attacks in Jordan, a key U.S. ally, that could have killed thousands of people.

"Yes, the plan was to totally destroy the building of the intelligence apparatus," the voice on the tape said.

"(But) their claims of unimaginable casualties and that it was a chemical bomb that would have killed thousands of people is a pure lie... The chemical and poisonous bomb is a fabrication by the evil Jordanian mechanism," he added.

The tape said the bomb was made of basic substances available on the market as one of the captured militants had said. He said his group did not intend to target or kill Muslims as the Jordanian authorities had claimed.

"The Jordanian intelligence lied twice... to protect their masters and sponsors from the Jews and Christians," he said.