AMMAN, April 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Jordan on Monday foiled a al-Qaida-linked chemical attack with trucks loaded with explosives that could have killed 80,000 people, the state television reported.

   The television aired what it said were confessions by captured militants tied to al-Qaida who said they had planned to launch deadly chemical attacks that could have caused thousands of deaths.

   It also ran footage of chemicals with which al-Qaida militants were trying to make explosives as well as "trucks that terrorists planned to load with 20 tons of chemical explosives in a suicide attack against the General Intelligence Department".

   The militants noted that they were ordered by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, accused of being a top al-Qaida operator, to attack targets that included the US embassy and Jordan's intelligence headquarters in the capital.

   "This operation, which would have been the largest in the history of the kingdom in terms of its volume and number of
victims, would have killed 80,000 Jordanian citizens," security officials were quoted as saying.

   They added that six members of the network were arrested and four others killed in a series of raids.

   The confessions were made by Azmi Al Jayousi and other members of the gang.

   Jayousi said that Zarqawi identified the targets and named the recruited members of the gang and provided them with necessary equipment and money together with faked passports.

   He added he was directly instructed by Zarqawi to carry out the attack while they were in Iraq after coming from Afghanistan. Enditem