Jordan Moves Qaeda Prisoners To Execution Facility After Pilot's Death

Jordanian authorities have moved several al-Qaeda prisoners to an execution facility in southern Amman, shortly after reports about the execution of a pilot by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant group, sources have said.



"Jordanian authorities have transferred several prisoners from the al-Qaeda group to Swaqa Prison, where executions are being carried out," one of the sources told The Anadolu Agency.



He said Iraqi militant Sajida al-Rishawi, Ziad al-Karbouli, a top aide to former al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Muammar Jaghbir, who was sentenced to death after being convicted of killing USAID official Laurence Foley in 2002, were among prisoners moved to the execution facility.



The move came shortly after an online video on Tuesday showed Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasba burnt alive by ISIL militant.



The video, which has not yet been verified, shows a man wearing an orange suit standing in a cage surrounded by masked and armed men, who then set on fire the captured person.



The Jordanian army confirmed the pilot's execution by the ISIL and vowed revenge for his death.



Al-Kasasba had been captured by ISIL militants after his fighter plane crashed in the Syrian city of Raqqa last December.



The ISIL had demanded the release of Rishawi, an Iraqi woman sentenced to death in 2005 following a spate of deadly hotel bombings in Amman, in exchange for the Jordanian pilot.



Last summer, the ISIL captured large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, killing thousands in the process. It later declared the captured territories to be part of a self-styled "Islamic caliphate."



Since the group captured the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in June of last year, a U.S.-led coalition has carried out numerous airstrikes against ISIL targets in both Iraq and Syria.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Amman