Jordan police say they detonated explosives hidden in an Amman warehouse
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Follow topic:
AMMAN – Jordanian security forces said they uncovered and detonated explosives hidden in a commercial warehouse
Witnesses earlier said security forces had sealed the Abu Alanda area in a large-scale security operation, two days after the authorities announced they had detonated explosives uncovered in another location in the capital.
The authorities said the explosives found on June 24 were hidden by the same group of suspects who stored the explosives uncovered two days earlier in a crowded residential area close to a military airport used by US army planes.
The authorities, who have not disclosed who was behind the storing of munitions or whether arrests have been made, said they would reveal details once the investigations are completed.
Over the past year, Jordan has said it has foiled many attempts to smuggle weapons by infiltrators linked to pro-Iranian militias in Syria, whom it says have crossed its borders with rocket launchers and explosives, adding that some of the weapons managed to get through undetected.
Iran has denied being behind such attempts.
Security sources say some of the arms are bound for the neighbouring Israeli-occupied West Bank, adding that they have arrested several Jordanians linked to Palestinian militants.
Security officials said the incidents were terror-related based on the quantities of explosives found. They said it is linked to Iran’s clandestine efforts to recruit agents to undertake sabotage acts within the kingdom to destabilise a key ally of Washington in the region.
Jordan has more than 3,500 American troops stationed in several bases and since the war between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza erupted in October,
