Jordan charges 11 for trying to fight U.S. in Iraq

AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan charged 11 militants for trying to slip into Iraq via Syria to fight the U.S. military, judicial and security sources said on Monday.

They said the state security court prosecutor charged the youths with "illegal actions that could have jeopardised the country's ties with a foreign country" and of helping others to infiltrate Iraq from Syria.

The accused are mostly from the impoverished city of Zarqa, east of the capital. Seven were detained in December in counter-terrorist operations to foil plots by Muslim Sunni fundamentalists opposed to the kingdom. Four are on the run.

Judicial sources said their trial should start soon.

Security sources say the case highlights concerns that Syria remains a conduit for anti-U.S. fighters heading to Iraq -- as U.S. officials complain. But they said there was no proof the Damascus government condoned such activities.

They did not say whether interrogations showed they were part of any militant groups.

Islamist militants are sworn enemies of Jordan, a U.S. ally that gives crucial support to Washington's operations in Iraq. In November 2005, triple al Qaeda suicide bombings killed 60 people at hotels in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

Jordanian officials say several hundred militants with links to other radical Arab groups have entered Iraq via Jordan and Syria since the U.S. invasion.

Security officials say the rise in militancy is tied to growing anti-American sentiment after the invasion of Iraq.

(Writing by Suleiman al-Khalidi; editing by Dominic Evans)