TARGETING JORDAN

Targeting Jordan
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The purported voice of Al-Qaida operative Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi said today his group did plan to blow up a Jordanian intelligence building, but not with chemical weapons as authorities have alleged.
Jordanian state television has broadcast confessions of a group of plotters allegedly linked to al-Zarqawi who said they were plotting Al-Qaida's first chemical bomb attack, which would have been directed against Jordan's secret service building in Amman and could have killed 80,000 people.
"The [allegation] that there was a chemical bomb to kill thousands of people is a mere lie," the reported voice of al-Zarqawi says on a tape broadcast via an Islamic site on the Internet.
"God knows, if we did possess [a chemical bomb], we wouldn't hesitate one second to use it to hit Israeli cities such as Eilat and Tel Aviv," the voice said.
The voice confirmed that the group did plan to attack the Jordanian intelligence building, calling it "the source of all evils in our home."
The speaker indicated that while the Jordanians have succeeded in foiling this particular plot, his group has more in store. The tape ends with the threat: "The battle between us and the Jordanian government has its ups and downs. Terrifying events are awaiting you."
Testimony describesscene at bombing
McALESTER, Okla. -- A routine spring morning for Eric McKisick turned into a struggle to survive when a bomb blew through his Social Security Administration office in the Oklahoma City federal building.
"A curtain of darkness descended on us," McKisick told jurors Thursday at bombing conspirator Terry Nichols' state murder trial. "The ceiling was down on the floor. The light fixtures are not in the ceiling but around our heads."
And bits of debris and concrete dust filled the air. "It was not something you wanted to breathe. It was something you had to taste," he said.
A total of 27 people were killed in the first-floor Social Security office in the April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing -- 16 employees and 11 of their customers.
Testimony is scheduled to resume today, when prosecutors will wrap up their case after 29 days.
Prosecutors plan to question three medical examiners about the deaths of some of the 168 people in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
Defense attorneys are scheduled to open their case Thursday.
Nichols, 49, is charged with 161 state counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of 160 victims and one victim's fetus. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
He is already serving a life prison sentence after convictions on federal conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter charges for the deaths of eight federal law enforcement agents in the bombing.
Suspected Talibankill Afghan soldiers
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Suspected Taliban killed eight Afghan soldiers, including a local commander, in two attacks in the country's lawless south, authorities said today.
Six came under attack late Thursday in the village of Thaloqan in Panjwayi district, 40 miles southwest of Kandahar, said Khalid Pashtun, spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor. They were riding three motorcycles when they were ambushed, he said.
Twelve suspects have been detained.
"We know it is the work of Taliban, and we are trying to arrest them," Pashtun said, although he offered no evidence of the rebels' involvement.
South Korean plane fliesin aid for victims of blast
SEOUL, South Korea -- A South Korean plane flew across the border into North Korea today to deliver first-aid kits, blankets and other aid to the victims of a deadly train explosion, the first cargo flight between the two countries.
The Korean Air Boeing 747-400F left Incheon Airport outside Seoul today. Flying across the western sea border in an hourlong flight, it landed in the airport in Pyongyang, the North's capital, carrying $470,000 worth of aid, the South's Unification Ministry said.
Today's relief flight is in addition to $25 million in building materials, food and other goods Seoul plans to start shipping next week to Ryongchon.
South Korea has been quick to respond to the North's request for help after the April 22 disaster, although Pyongyang has rejected Seoul's offer to truck supplies across their heavily fortified border, seriously slowing the transport of emergency supplies.
The explosion, sparked when a train carrying oil and chemicals hit power lines, killed 161 people, including 76 children in a school torn apart by the blast. It also injured about 1,300 people, demolished 30 public buildings and destroyed 8,100 homes, leaving thousands homeless.
Associated Press