AMMAN, Oct. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Jordanian State Security Court Prosecutor Mahmoud Obeidat has prosecuted the terror network al-Qaida's ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and 12 other terrorist suspects, the Jordan Times reported on Monday.

    Charges against the suspects included plotting a chemical attackin Jordan, conspiracy to commit terrorist attacks, manufacturing explosives and possession of weapons for illegal use.

    The 13 were also charged with belonging to an illegal organization, Kataeb Tawhid (Battalions of Monotheism), believed tobe linked to the al-Qaida network.

    Four suspects, Zarqawi, also known as Ahmad Fadel Khalayleh, Ibrahim Kasheh, Suleiman Darwish and Shawqi Omar, all of them at large, were prosecuted in absentia.

    Some of the suspects would face death penalty if convicted.

    In April, the Jordanian authorities foiled a plot to attack a governmental ministry and the US Embassy in Amman by trucks loaded with 20 tons of chemicals that could have killed 80,000 people and injured 160,000 others.

    Zarqawi was sentenced to death in absentia in April for a plot to assassinate a US diplomat in Jordan in October 2002.

    On Sunday, Zarqawi pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden's terror network al-Qaida in a statement posted on the Internet. Enditem