Jordan: Karak terrorist cell planned to use 15kg of explosives

Jordanian security sources revealed that the armed cell that carried out the attack in Karak last month was planning a major attack against several locations during New Year’s celebrations using nearly 15 kilogrammes of explosives and five explosive belts.

The head of the Public Security Directorate (PSD), Atif Al-Saudi, called on citizens to cooperate with security officials, saying that 80 per cent of information received by the directorates comes from citizens and are being followed up carefully.

Analysts noted earlier that there is a change in the way Jordanian jihadists who joined Daesh implement operations in the Kingdom.

“There is some sort of abandonment of former caution to carry out attacks in Jordan therefore there are operations against security and police forces as well as foreigners,” some have warned.

Observers predicted that the Karak attack indicates a failure to target sensitive centres in Jordan on New Year’s Eve in parallel with other attacks in several places similar to the attack in Istanbul which killed 39 people.