Upon his release from prison in 1999, Zarqawi was involved in an attempt to blow up the
Radisson SAS Hotel in Amman, where many Israeli and American tourists lodged.
[9] He fled Jordan and traveled to
Peshawar,
Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border. In Afghanistan, Zarqawi established a militant training camp near
Herat, near the
Iranian border.
[10] The training camp specialized in
poisons and explosives.
[11] According to Jordanian officials and court testimony by jailed followers of Zarqawi in Germany, Zarqawi met in
Kandahar and
Kabul with
Osama bin Laden and other
al-Qaeda leaders after travelling to Afghanistan.
[9] He asked them for assistance and money to set up his own training camp in Herat.
[12] With al-Qaeda's support, the camp opened and soon served as a magnet for Jordanian militants.
[9]
Jordanian and European intelligence agencies claim that Zarqawi formed the group Jund al-Sham in 1999 with $200,000 of start up money from Osama bin Laden.
[13] The group originally consisted of 150 members. It was infiltrated by members of Jordanian intelligence, and scattered before
Operation Enduring Freedom. However, in
March 2005, a group of the same name claimed responsibility for a bombing in
Doha,
Qatar.
[14] Sometime in 2001, Zarqawi was arrested in Jordan but was soon released. He was later convicted
in absentia and
sentenced to death for plotting the attack on the Radisson SAS Hotel.
