The first conspiracy was the reason for the expulsion of three Iraqi diplomats late last month, while the second led to the arrest of four other Iraqis last week, the sources said.

The bomb plot involved the Hyatt Amman Hotel, where nearly 70 foreign journalists are staying. A large contingent of US nationals has also taken up residence in two adjacent tower blocks for as yet unexplained reasons.

"Four Iraqis were arrested in Amman last week for their involvement in an attempt to blow up the Hyatt Amman Hotel", one of the sources told AFP, asking not to be identified. The four were not diplomats and enjoyed no immunity, he added.

A fire broke out on the ninth floor of the hotel last week, prompting rumours of an attempted bombing.

But hotel staff questioned by AFP insisted that the blaze, which was rapidly brought under control, was the result of an electrical short circuit.

There was no immediate confirmation that the fire was the incident which prompted the four arrests.

The poisoning plot involved water mains serving Jordanian military bases close to the Iraqi border where US troops are based, the diplomatic sources said.

"The Iraqi diplomats expelled on March 23 were conspiring to poison water mains serving the east of Jordan," where most of the US forces deployed in the kingdom are based, one of the sources told AFP, declining to be identified.

Publicly, officials insist there are just a few hundred US service personnel here, playing no direct role in the fighting in neighbouring Iraq, but diplomatic sources say that in reality the number is more like 6,000.

The sources did not elaborate on the nature of the poison said to have been involved in the plot.

Jordan originally expelled five embassy staff but later lifted the expulsion order against two of them.

King Abdullah II also made clear the following day that Jordan was ready to allow Iraq to name replacements for those kicked out.

Jordanian officials have so far refused to spell out the reasons for the expulsion orders against the diplomats, saying only that they were issued for security reasons..

But last week Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher threatened to reveal the details if Iraq persisted in accusing Jordan of bending to US pressure.

"The issue of the three (expelled) Iraqi diplomats is purely a security one and we did not choose to divulge details on it in because we are not interested in a public debate or an uproar with Iraq," Moasher said.

"If the Iraqis wish to further provoke this issue and to paint it as an answer to an American request, we will divulge these details."

Iraqi officials have since taken a more conciliatory line, waxing lyrical about the strength of ties between the two countries.

"Jordanian-Iraqi relations are like a stream of friendship and have a deep historical depth to them and what happened is nothing but a passing cloud," ambassador Sabah Yassin told Jordan's official Petra news agency, adding that Baghdad was ready to replace the three expelled diplomats.

SPACE.WIRE