Eight indicted in Jordan terror bombings
Amman, Jordan ? Al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and seven other people were indicted Tuesday in Jordan’s worst-ever terror bombing, last November’s near-simultaneous attacks at three Amman hotels.
Among those indicted by Jordan’s military prosecutor was Sajida Mubarak al-Rishawi, a woman who was meant to be one of four Iraqi suicide bombers but fled when her explosives belt failed to detonate.
Al-Rishawi is the only one of the eight indicted people who is in custody. She will stand trial before Jordan’s military State Security Court, the 13-page indictment said.
Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for the Nov. 9 attacks, in which suicide attackers detonated their bombs in three luxury hotels, killing at least 60 people. Al-Zarqawi’s group vowed more strikes against Jordan, a staunch U.S. ally that signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 and has been the target of several al-Qaida terror plots because of its moderate stance and vocal criticism of extremist Muslim groups.
No date has been set for her trial to be held in the State Court, which tries cases considered a threat to national security.
The eight people indicted Tuesday are charged with illegally possessing explosives and conspiring to commit terrorist attacks that led to the death of innocent civilians; crimes punishable by death.
They include a Jordanian man who is a fugitive and five Iraqis.

