AMMAN: Jordan’s General Intelligence Department said it thwarted a planned attack by the Daesh terrorist group against security personnel and buildings in the northern city of Irbid.
The GID said the three suspects involved in the alleged scheme had embraced the Daesh deviant ideology and planned terrorist attacks using firearms against its headquarters and personnel in Irbid, some 80 kilometers north of Amman.
The department also said the suspected Daesh sympathizers had been once referred to the State Security Court for promoting the extremist ideology and attempting to join a terrorist organization.
In the charge list, the department said two of the three suspects had already served time in prison before their arrest in March, which was in connection to the foiled terrorist attack. The third was still behind bars on charges related to promoting Daesh ideology.
“Prison did not serve as a deterrent for the three suspects, who continued promoting the extremist ideology of the Daesh terrorist organization,” according to the indictment, which was viewed by Arab News.
The charge sheet said the second suspect, who had already been serving a long prison term, was tasked with gathering supporters for Daesh. Even after his release last year, the suspect continued to recruit followers for the terrorist plot against security agencies.
The GID said that the second suspect met with the third suspect in late 2020 during their search for supporters as both exchanged news about Daesh and promoted the extremist organization’s ideology among their friends and relatives.
The charge sheet also stated, at the beginning of 2021, the first suspect identified the GID headquarters as the possible target for their terrorist scheme.
He purchased a firearm to carry out the plot and then waited for the second suspect in prison to aid him with Daesh supporters.
The GID said it uncovered the plot after interrogation of the convicted second suspect. That information led to the arrest of the first suspect on March 3 and then the third suspect one week later.
This is not the first time a Daesh plot has been foiled in Jordan.
In January 2018, GID thwarted a Daesh-planned attack targeting military and security facilities, commercial centers, media outlets, and moderate religious scholars as 17 people were arrested for their involvement in the plot.
In March 2016, a major security operation foiled a Daesh terror plot in Irbid, Jordan’s second-largest city. During the hours-long assault, security forces killed seven suspected terrorists who were armed and holed up inside a residential building.