Jordanian security forces entered the southern town of Maan at dawn to arrest a dozen wanted Islamists described as an "armed band of outlaws" by information minister Mohammed Adwan.An official source said some members of the group had been arrested, and sub-machine guns and other automatic weapons seized.Searches were continuing for the others, the source added.

The Islamic Action Front (IAF), the main opposition party, claimed in a statement that people had been injured in the operation and called on the government to "end the siege of Maan".The IAF, which is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, said the situation in Maan had reached a "deplorable stage", and accused the government of handling sensitive issues with a "martial mentality.

"Adwan alleged the group had been "terrorising the population, carrying weapons and bombs in the public streets and setting on fire the homes and cars of women students and of university staff.""The campaign of the security forces in Maan will continue until all the members of this band are arrested and brought to court, in order to impose the sovereignty of the state and the law" in the town, he said.

The entrances to the town of 70,000 residents were sealed off Sunday by security forces.Meanwhile telephone and mobile lines were cut between Amman and Maan, 215 kilometres (135 miles) south of the capital.Residents said riot police and other security personnel had deployed in force around the city since Friday in pursuit of the dozen or so Islamists, who were being sheltered by their tribes.

Thousands of police were taking part in the operation.The tribes have persistently refused to hand the Islamists over to authorities, and a tribal gathering in Amman last week, attended by 3,000 people, even threatened authorities with a "bloodbath" if they entered Maan.

They have also rejected mediation bids by government officials to secure the handover of the men.One of those being sought, Mohammed al-Shalabi, a local Islamist leader also known as Abu Sayyaf, was wounded in a shoot-out with police late last month but escaped despite having gone to the town's main public hospital for treatment.

A policeman was also wounded in the gunfight.Islamist sources said Shalabi had so far escaped arrest Sunday.Shalabi and the other Islamists have been on the authorities' wanted list since two days of riots in Maan in January, after the controversial killing of a 17-year-old student during his arrest by police.One policeman was killed in the disturbances and another 11 were among 19 people wounded, as hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of the impoverished town, regarded as an Islamist stronghold.The rioters also damaged public buildings.Maan is in one of Jordan's poorest provinces.

In 1989, riots broke out following a rise in bread prices which left 12 people dead.Authorities are aware of the links between poverty and the rise of Islamist sentiment and in the past few years have launched several projects to build up the infrastructure in the province and boost development.In October, when King Abdullah II visited Maan, the province's main tribes reaffirmed their allegiance to him.Earlier this year Jordan launched a 385-million-dollar development scheme to shore up the economy and mainly fight unemployment, which stands at 25 percent, as well as a high level of poverty.

Jordanian officials told AFP the manhunt had nothing to do with the killing of US diplomat Laurence Foley, who was gunned down outside his Amman home on October 28 in the first such slaying of a foreign diplomat.However, since the killing police have been bringing in known Islamists for questioning.

PHOTO CAPTION

U.S. soldiers and officials carry the coffin of Laurence Foley at Amman airport October 30, 2002. The body of assassinated U.S. diplomat Foley was flown home as Jordan launched a nationwide manhunt focused on Islamists and radical Palestinians, officials and diplomats said. Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters