Jordan’s interior minister said on Monday militants behind an attack on police supported the ISIS terrorist organization, and investigations had revealed plans for more attacks on security and civilian targets.
Jordanian police said last week a homemade explosive device planted near a police van killed a policeman and injured six others.
Interior Minister Sameer al-Mobaideen said the militants did not belong to a group but subscribed to ISIS ideology.
He said the suspects are Jordanians without previous experience fighting for extremist groups in neighboring Syria and Iraq, where ISIS once controlled large areas. Hundreds of Jordanians have joined extremist groups in neighboring countries in recent years, and some have since returned.
Mobaideen refused to give names of suspects, telling a news conference "the investigations are secret and ongoing.”
Jordan's crackdown on extremist ideologies has included imposing prison terms of several years for those who express support for ISIS and other groups on social media. At the same time, hopelessness and alienation among some of the kingdom's young people, driven by high youth unemployment, have provided fertile ground for recruitment by militant groups.
Jordan has been targeted repeatedly by ISIS-linked militants.
In June 2016, a cross-border car bombing launched from Syria killed seven Jordanian border guards. In December 2016, a shootout at a crusader castle in the southern town of Karak left 14 people dead, including seven members of the security forces, four militants and three civilians.
