AMMAN Twelve Jordanians of Palestinian origin went on trial Tuesday on charges of carrying out what the Jordanian military court described as terrorist attacks on a Christian church and cemetery in the Arab country.

The 12 men stood quietly in the dock to hear the charges against them, which included shooting a group of visiting Lebanese musicians, making Molotov cocktails they hurled at the cemetery and church, and the illegal possession of weapons.

The indictment sheet said the prime suspect and the groups mastermind, Shaker al-Khatib, was trained in Lebanon by an alleged al-Qaeda member to join the insurgents in Iraq. But al-Khatib, 28, instead returned to Jordan to form a militant cell here. He is originally from Gaza but has lived most of his life in Jordans Palestinian refugee camp in northern Irbid.

The indictment does not charge al-Khatib with belonging to al-Qaeda, which is banned in Jordan, although it says al-Khatib recruited others for the terror network through the Internet and at mosque gatherings.

According to AP, the 12 did not enter pleas Tuesday as most did not yet have defence attorneys. If the defendants fail to appoint lawyers before the next hearing, the court will appoint attorneys for them to enable them to plead. The trial was then adjourned until February 3. If convicted, the men could be sentenced to death.