Security forces say the al-Qaeda cell wanted to inflict ‘the heaviest human losses possible’ with coordinated suicide strikes on shopping centres and Western diplomats in the country’s capital capital Amman.

Authorities tonight arrested 11 suspects who planned on carrying out bombings using smuggled weapons and explosives brought from Syria, it is claimed…

Since June, the suspects have been surveying targets across the country, bringing in rockets from Syria to use in the alleged plot, the statement said.

The militants sought to carry out their attacks in stages, it added, with initial attacks on shopping centers and foreigners in Jordanian hotels, followed by more deadly strikes with powerful explosives and chemicals on Western diplomatic missions and unspecified ‘vital national sites’.