JORDAN LAUNCHES NEW ISLAMIC CRACKDOWN AMMAN Ñ Jordan has launched a widescale crackdown on Islamic militants.

Jordanian sources said the crackdown began after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington. The crackdown has targeted suspected Islamic insurgents, including those believed aligned with Saudi fugitive Osama Bin Laden.

The London-based Al Hayat daily said that so far Jordan has arrested more than 300 Islamic suspects. Most of the suspects were interrogated and released, the newspaper said.

About a dozen of the detainees are suspected of being members of Bin Laden's Al Qaida. The suspects are accused of plotting to bomb hotels in Amman, Aqaba and Petra.

Jordan has foiled several Bin Laden attempts to attack the kingdom, the sources said. Three suspected Bin Laden agents have been arrested for planning a series of bombings in the kingdom. Another two are at large and believed to have planned the bombing of the Jordanian embassy in Beirut.

Another five suspects have been charged with plotting attacks on Israeli targets in the West Bank. Two of the suspects have been deemed fugitives.

The five were charged with obtaining a large amount of firearms, ammunition and explosives from Lebanon.

The pro-government A-Rai daily said an Iraqi national confessed to smuggling 13 machine-guns into Jordan. The Iraqi was also accused of trying to smuggle 40 hand grenades into the kingdom.

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