AN Iraqi member of al-Qaeda confessed on Jordanian television today to killing a Jordanian driver by shooting him in the head and to kidnapping two Moroccan embassy employees last year. Ziyad Khalaf Karbouli, described as a local head of al-Qaeda network in the Iraqi town of Rutba near the border with Jordan, said he was responsible for last October's kidnapping of two Moroccans, who worked at their country's Baghdad embassy.The two went missing in October while returning by road from a trip to Jordan. Al-Qaeda said in November it had sentenced the two men to death, but Moroccan authorities say they believe the pair are still alive and they are working for their release. "I took the Moroccans to al-Qaeda headquarters," Karbouli said describing how he handed them over to a senior al-Qaeda militant known as Abu Azzam who told him their leader Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was aware of their mission.
Karbouli, alias Abu Huthayfa, who worked as customs clearance official near the Iraqi border with Jordan, went into detail about how he kidnapped Khaled Dasouki, a Jordanian driver who worked on the Baghdad-Amman highway six months ago. "I told him 'I have to kill you' and he started pleading and said 'don't kill me'. Then I told him 'I have to kill you' and so I pulled my personal gun and shot him twice in the head," a composed Karbouli said.
The official report that quotes security officials said Karbouli had also confessed to participating in killing four Iraqi national guardsmen and kidnapping government officials.
The state news agency quoted a senior Jordanian security official yesterday as saying they had arrested a senior al-Qaeda operative thought to be behind a spate of kidnappings, killings of foreigners and other acts of violence. It was not clear how senior Karbouli was in al-Qaeda.
Karbouli said al-Qaeda had a deep grudge against Jordan, one of Washington's closest Arab allies which supported the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. "There is great vengeance against Jordan and the Jordanians by al Qaeda whom it accuses the kingdom of cooperating with the Americans and supplying them with goods," Karbouli said.