Thirteen people went on trial in Jordan's state security court today for planning terrorist acts on US interests in the kingdom, a Jordanian official said.
The group includes three Saudis - to be tried in absentia - and Jordanian Muslim preacher Mohamad Chalabi, known as Abu Sayyaf, who was captured by authorities on Saturday.
The pro-government daily al-Rainewspaper, quoting the official list of charges, said the group initially wanted to go to Afghanistan to fight US troops there.
"When the group found difficulty in travelling to Afghanistan they swapped the idea of travelling there with a plan to carry out the same attacks on Jordanian land," al-Raisaid.
One of the most prominent of the 13 accused is Mr Saud Mohamad Ali al-Khalayleh, the cousin of Mr Ahmad Fadheel Nazal al-Khalayleh, known as Abu Musab Zarqawi, a suspected associate of the al-Qaeda network's Osama bin Laden, the daily said.
Zarqawi was sentenced to death in absentia by a Jordanian court in September last year for plotting attacks against US and Israeli targets in the kingdom. He is also suspected of orchestrating the murder of US diplomat Mr Laurence Foley in Amman last October.