Jordan arrests 20 over 'Hamas plots'

[ECH1969]

Jordan has arrested 20 suspects and seized Iranian-made Katyusha rockets in its probe of alleged plots by Hamas to carry out attacks in Jordan, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.

"Twenty people have been arrested in the Hamas weapons case," Nasser Jawdeh told reporters at a weekly press conference, declining to say how many were Palestinian. "Katyusha rockets made in Iran were among the weapons seized," he said.

"The investigation with the suspects allowed us to discover new weapons and schemes" for attacks in Jordan, Jawdeh said.

Weapons seized included "Grad rockets, Lau rocket launchers, machine guns and mines", which the Islamist faction was stockpiling in Jordan, Jawdeh said. Last month Amman announced the arrest of Hamas members who allegedly received orders from a Syria-based leader to carry out attacks on officials in the kingdom.

http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060510-091313-6350r