Warning issued of possible attacks on shopping malls

The US embassy in Amman warned Wednesday that it has received credible information about potential attacks against upmarket shopping malls in the Jordanian capital.

In a video, the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab group also threatened Canada's massive West Edmonton Mall, London's famous Oxford Street and two malls in France: Le Forum des Halles and Les Quatre Temps.

The United States and other nations are increasingly jittery about the threat of "lone wolf" attacks carried out by radicalised people in their home country.

On Sunday, US homeland security chief Jeh Johnson warned shoppers in one of America's biggest malls, in the state of Minnesota, to be on guard after an Islamic militant group called for attacks on Western shopping centres.

The US embassy said it had "received information of a potential threat against high-end malls in Amman. The threat is judged to be credible, although the possible time frame and type of threat are unknown."

It said the Jordanian government had taken steps to increase security, but that embassy employees and their families had been instructed to avoid the locations "as a precaution in the coming days" and that private US citizens were advised to do the same.

Government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani told AFP: "Jordan continues to take security measures to ensure safety and security of people given the regional situation." This was an apparent reference to Jordan's decision earlier this month to raise its profile in the military campaign against the Islamic State group.

The Associated Press reported that the decision came after the extremists released a video that showed them burning to death a Jordanian fighter pilot trapped inside a metal cage.

Al-Momani did not comment specifically on the warning about the malls, saying only that "countries issue such warnings all the time."

The killing of the pilot sparked widespread anger across Jordan. In an initial response, Jordan executed two Iraqi al-Qaida prisoners and intensified its airstrikes against the group.

Jordan, a staunch Western ally, has been part of a US-led coalition against Islamic State since September. The extremists control large areas of Iraq and Syria, neighbours of Jordan.

Al-Shabab gunmen killed 67 people in an attack on a Nairobi mall in September 2013.