Police in Jordan have arrested two men in connection with the killing of American diplomat Laurence Foley in October.

Jordanian Information Minister Mohammad Adwan said on Saturday that a Libyan suspected of shooting Mr Foley and a Jordanian believed to be his accomplice had been detained.

He said both were members of the al-Qaeda network.

Mr Foley, 60, was shot by a lone gunman at close range on 28 October as he walked to his car outside his home in the capital Amman.

He had worked for the US Agency for International Development (USAid) in Jordan.

He was the first Western diplomat to be killed in Jordan and the authorities had said they would spare no efforts to track down the perpetrators.

The US embassy in Jordan issued a statement praising the Jordanian Government for its "diligence and aggressiveness" in pursuing the investigation.

The Jordanians plan to try the two men rather than hand them over to American jurisdiction.

´Fake passport´

Announcing the arrests in a statement on Jordanian television, Mr Adwan said that Libyan Salem Saad bin Suweid had shot Mr Foley.

He said that his accomplice, Jordanian Yasser Fathi Ibrahim, had waited for him in the car.

Salem Saad bin Suweid had entered Jordan using a fake Tunisian passport after being trained in al-Qaeda´s camps in Afghanistan.

The minister said that investigators had found guns and ammunition used in the attack in the men´s possession.

They included a revolver and silencer, machine guns, grenades and $18,000 - the first instalment of $50,000 which was allegedly being provided by al-Qaeda to fund their operations.

Police also found documents outlining a plan to attack "important targets" - the men had allegedly admitted they were under orders to attack embassies and foreign diplomats.

The arrested men were said to have been operating under the orders of a shadowy and as yet uncaptured al-Qaeda commander, named as Abu Mussa al-Zarkawi - a Jordanian national wanted for allegedly planning a hotel bombing.

In the wake of the killing it was reported that the authorities rounded up scores of political activists in a nationwide sweep. (BBC.CO.UK 12/14/02)