 IRBID, Jordan (AFP) - Jordanian security forces killed a suspected Al-Qaeda militant and captured another in a shootout in northern Jordan, state-run television reported and security officials said. "An Al-Qaeda terrorist was killed and another was captured in Irbid" round 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of the capital Amman, television said quoting a security official.
The suspect killed was identified as Suleiman al-Anjadi, "holder of a temporary Jordanian passport," television said, implying he was a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip. Unconfirmed reports suggested he was wanted by the authorities.
| And now they know where he is. On a slab. |
The captured suspect was named as Jordanian national Ramadan Mustafa al-Mansi, television said, after having previously identified him as Awni al-Mansi.
According to the report, "a group of intelligence forces backed by general security forces (police) were able to kill this morning a terrorist militant of the Al-Qaeda group and capture another." The joint force "stormed a house in the Matlaa neighbourhood of Irbid, where they had sought refuge, and the suspects opened fire on the security forces when they tried to arrest them", the report added.
"Youse in the building! Come out witcher mitts in da air!"
"You'll never take us alive, coppers!"
"Hokay!" Gosh, I love that part of the story. Gets me every time. |
| You big ol' softy, you. Here, have a Kleenex. |
 The operation was launched after security forces "received a tip-off that Al-Qaeda was plotting attacks in Jordan," television said. A security official who declined to be identified said the operation began at around 7:30 am and lasted until noon, and that a large number of weapons, ammunition and explosives were seized, including automatic rifles. The official said that seven members of the security forces were wounded in the shootout with the militants.
Meanwhile a new Jordanian news website, Aaramnews.com, quoted the mother of Mansi, the captured suspect, as saying that he had disappeared from home 20 days ago "which prompted them to inform the intelligence services."
| "We thought the Zionists had seized him. That's why we called. We never thought it would come to this. If we had, we wouldn't have called!" |
Mansi's brother Issam told the website that his brother had been "threatened with death by masked men unless he followed them," adding that the suspect was married, aged 33 and worked in a banana warehouse.
| Had a nice life in front of him. Decent job, good woman, kids in the future. Then he got holy, and now he's dead. |
An AFP photographer who travelled to Irbid said police cordoned off the Matlaa neighbourhood and kept journalists at bay. The ground floor of the stone house where the suspects had been holed up was damaged, said the photographer, adding that some 20 policemen backed by a civil defence car and a bulldozer were outside the house.
| Bulldozer? Learning from the Israelis, are they? |
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