Rockets Miss U.S. Ships In Jordan

Unknown assailants fired at least three missiles from Jordan early Friday, with one narrowly missing a U.S. Navy ship docked at port, an attack that killed a Jordanian soldier. One missile fell close to an airport in neighboring Israel, officials said.

One of the mortars was fired in the vicinity of two U.S. Navy ships docked in the port of Aqaba, Jordan, the U.S. military said, but it missed and hit a nearby warehouse.

Jordanian soldier Ahmed Jamal Saleh was fatally wounded when the mortar sailed over one of the U.S. ships and slammed into the warehouse, a Jordanian security official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The soldier died in the ambulance taking him to hospital; another Jordanian was also wounded, the official added.

There were no American injuries.

The U.S. Central Command said the ships were the USS Ashland and the USS Kearsarge. The Ashland is an amphibious warfare ship designed to transport Marines and their combat gear along with assault landing craft and helicopters.

The Kearsarge is an assault command ship that can carry 1200 troops.

"At approximately 8:44 a.m. local time a suspected mortar rocket flew over the (amphibious) USS Ashland over the bow and impacted a warehouse on the pier in the vicinity of the Ashland and the USS Kearsarge which were in port," said Lt. Cdr. Charlie Brown of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, in a statement.

"The warehouse sustained an approximate 8 foot hole in the roof of the building and no sailors or Marines were injured in the attack," said Brown, adding that the missile was fired from land.

The Red Sea port serves as a logistics hub for Iraq, used by the military for moving supplies.

A Jordanian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said another missile landed near a Jordanian hospital.

The attacks come amid a time of tension in the region marked by Israel's withdrawal from Gaza.

An Internet statement released by the al Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades militant group claimed responsibility for Friday's rocket attacks.

"A group of our holy warriors ... targeted a gathering of American military ships docking in Aqaba port and also in Eilat port with three Katyusha rockets and the warriors returned safe to their headquarters," said the statement, which could not be immediately verified.

Islamic extremists have long criticized Jordan's U.S.-allied moderate government for its peace treaty with Israel and close ties with the West.

The Abdullah Azzam brigades was among several groups that claimed responsibility for previous attacks on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, including the Oct. 7 car bombing of a hotel in the resort of Taba, which borders Israel, and the July 23 Sharm el-Sheik bombings that killed at least 64 people.

Jordan, which is home to 1.8 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants, signed the peace deal with Israel in 1994.

The missiles are believed to have been Katyusha rockets, fired from a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Aqaba.

Israeli police and witnesses said a rocket fired from Jordan slammed into a taxi traveling near the airport in Israel's nearby Red Sea resort of Eilat, but did not explode.

"I heard a noise, the car shook, and I kept driving for two more meters (yards)," said Israeli cab driver Meir Farhan, 40, who suffered minor wounds. "I didn't realize what it was, (but) when I went out of the car I saw a hole in the ground on the asphalt."

The rocket left a small crater in the road, about 15 yards from the Eilat airport fence, according to Avi Azulin, a local police commander.

Aqaba is an attractive target for terrorists in that it has been the site of past Mideast peace negotiations, is a resort city, and is just across the water from the Israeli city of Eilat.

Aqaba and Eilat are about nine miles apart and located on either side the Jordan-Israeli border at the northern end of the Red Sea close to Sinai Peninsula.

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz says the attacks were "intended to hit the Israeli side and the Jordanian side as well."

"We still don't know who is behind this act but I'm sure the Jordanians will do all they can to prevent such attacks in the future as in the past," Mofaz said, adding Israeli authorities are in contact with Jordanians over the incidents.