Jordan’s state news agency says the country’s intelligence service has foiled a “massive” scheme of simultaneous attacks on military installations, shopping centers and other targets by a cell linked to Islamic State extremists.

The Petra agency said on Monday the cell planned to carry out the attacks last November, seeking to harm national security and create chaos. It says security forces arrested 17 people and seized weapons and other materials.

It says media organizations and moderate clerics were among would-be targets.

Petra says the suspects had planned to finance their plot by robbing banks and stealing cars in the towns of Ruseifa and Zarqa, strongholds of domestic support for Islamic militants.

Pro-Western Jordan has been a key member of the U.S.-led military campaign against IS in neighboring Iraq and Syria.

(AP)