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Inside Jordan's War on Al-Qaeda

[Guardian-UK] Ian Black - Suleiman al-Anjadi died as he would have surely wished: fighting until he was cut down, a soldier in the army of jihad, after a standoff with Jordanian security forces who surrounded his hiding place in the northern city of Irbid last month. Ramadan al-Mansi was captured alive, along with weapons, explosives and computers. It was a good day for Fursan al-Haq (the Knights of Justice), the shadowy counter-terrorist unit waging a ruthless campaign against the worst enemies of the West's favorite Arab ally. The Knights of Justice emerged soon after three Iraqi al-Qaeda suicide bombers slaughtered 60 people in coordinated attacks on three hotels in Amman in November 2005. Operating under the Mukhabarat intelligence service, the unit's brief is to penetrate, neutralize or wipe out jihadist groups. Jordan is better equipped to fight hardcore jihadis than Saudi Arabia or the Maghreb countries. It is a small country with strong tribal loyalties, a relatively cohesive society and a monarchy with religious legitimacy. Most people want the terrorists crushed, as shown by the messages flooding the web after the Irbid shootout.
2007-02-09 01:00:00
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