A court in Jordan today sentenced nine al-Qaeda militants to death, including for a plot to launch chemical attacks against government and US targets in the kingdom.
Four of them, including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, were sentenced in absentia.
The nine were found guilty of planning the attacks which were thwarted in April 2004.
The verdict is Jordan's fourth death sentence in absentia against Zarqawi, al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq.
