AMMAN: Jordan has foiled a “terrorist plot” and arrested 11 al-Qaeda suspects who planned to carry out suicide attacks against shopping malls, foreigners, and diplomatic missions, the Petra news agency reported on Sunday.

“The General Intelligence Department has foiled a terrorist plot against national security, by an 11-member terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda’s ideology,” Petra said.

The suspects were planning to launch a wave of attacks targeting shopping malls, diplomatic missions, foreigners, hotels, and other key sites using explosives, car bombs, machine guns and mortars, it added.

They were arrested before they could carry out their plot, the news agency said, adding that the intelligence services had been alerted and were monitoring the suspects’ moves.

A judicial source told Agence France-Presse that the case had been referred to the prosecutor of the state security court—a military tribunal—who had begun questioning “11 Jordanians from Salafist movements.”

“They will face two charges: conspiracy to carry out terrorist acts and possession of explosives,” said the source, who declined to be named. The charges carry the death penalty.

Petra also published pictures of the 11 suspects.

Meanwhile, Information Minister Samih Maayatah told a news conference that the 11 suspects had entered Jordan from neighboring Syria.

“The prisoners came across the border from Syria and were caught red-handed,” he said, adding that authorities seized weapons and maps showing the locations of the sites they planned to attack.

Petra said that the group had planned “to terrorize the Jordanian people and sow chaos” in the kingdom.

The suspects, it said, consulted through the Internet with al-Qaeda explosive experts in Iraq.

They scouted possible targets in Amman, experimented with explosives after obtaining the raw materials to make bombs, and began selecting candidates to carry out suicide bombings, the agency said.

Among their initial plans were bids to target two malls, as well as carry out a major attack in the upmarket Abdoun neighborhood in western Amman, home to diplomatic missions, restaurants and cafés, and residential areas.