Jordan’s General Intelligence Directorate has foiled a terrorist plot to attack a church and liquor store in Amman.
Al-Rai daily reported that four militants affiliated with ISIS were arrested earlier this year before their attempt to join the terrorist organization by infiltrating the Jordanian border to Syria.
Tight Jordanian security measures prevented them from crossing the border and instead they plotted to carry out military operations in Jordan.
Authorities held a public trial for the four defendants, during which they said their plan was to attack the church and the store with explosive devices, but they faced difficulty in manufacturing the explosives and resorted to machine guns instead.
Jordan’s State Security Court charged the defendants with conspiracy, intention to carry out terrorist attacks, and attempting to join armed groups and terrorist organizations. Three of the convicts are also facing charges of promoting the ideas of a terrorist group.
The defendants are all friends and reside in al-Wehdat area, east of the capital.
Following the developments in Syria and Iraq and the emergence of ISIS in 2014, the defendants began exchanging ideas and promoting rhetoric of the terrorist organization online.
They became supporters and members of the extremist group and pledged allegiance to its leader.
According to the newspaper, the defendants were adamant on supporting ISIS, so they agreed in 2017 to join its ranks. They began searching for a safe way to join the organization, but failed due to tight security measures on Jordan’s border.
Early in 2018, the first and fourth defendants were determined to carry out military operations in Jordan, and identified a number of places as their targets.
Eventually, they settled on attacking the Armenian Church in al-Ashrafyeh area, east of Amman, and a liquor store in al-Wehdat.
They chose the two targets for their proximity and their knowledge of the area.
