Jordan arrests dozens over convoy attack

Majority of those arrested by police are Salafists, Jordanian official says.

Jordan israeli embassy car bomb amman (photo credit: AP)
Jordan israeli embassy car bomb amman
(photo credit: AP)

A Jordanian security officialon Sunday said authorities arrested dozens of fundamentalist Muslimsin connection with a failed bomb attack on a convoy of Israelidiplomats earlier in January.

Dozens have been detained in apolice crackdown mostly on Salafists, extremists who seek to revivestrict Muslim doctrine dating back to the era of the 6thCentury Prophet Muhammad, the official added.

He said the crackdown wascontinuing across Jordan.

The Jordanian official declined toprovide other details and insisted on anonymity because he was notallowed to speak to the media.

No one was killed or injured inthe January 14 attack on an Israeli Embassy convoy heading homefor the weekend. It was the first roadside bombing in Jordan andexposed a security gap for Israeli diplomats.

Sourcesclose to Jordan's General Intelligence Department (GID) revealed thatthe failed attempt on the lives of Israeli diplomats in Jordan wasapparently carried out on instructions from Teheran, and thatthe GID was investigating the possibility that the explosives used inthe attack had been smuggled into the kingdom by Iranian diplomats.

The attackitself was apparently carried out by local al-Qaida supporters whoreceived money and explosives from Iran, the sources said.

Amir Mizroch and Yaakov Katz contributed to this report