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Missile Fired at U.S. Navy Ship in Jordan
By JAMAL HALABY, Associated Press Writer 4 minutes ago
Two missiles were fired from Jordan early Friday, at a U.S. Navy ship docked in a Jordanian port and at a nearby airport in neighboring Israel, officials said. No casualties were reported.
The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet said a mortar was fired from Jordan at one of its ships docked in the seaport of Aqaba, missing the vessel but slamming into a warehouse on a dock.
Israeli police and witnesses said a Katyusha rocket fired from Jordan fell on the outskirts of the nearby airport of Israel's Red Sea resort of Eilat but did not explode.
The attacks were believed to have been launched from a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Aqaba, a Jordanian Red Sea port 210 miles south of the capital, Amman. Aqaba and Eilat are about 10 miles apart and located on either side of the Jordan-Israeli border at the northern end of the Red Sea close to the Sinai Peninsula.
Lt. Cdr. Charlie Brown of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, said a mortar rocket flew over the bow of the USS Ashland and hit a warehouse on the pier at about 8:44 a.m.
"The warehouse sustained an approximate 8-foot hole in the roof of the building, and no sailors or Marines were injured," Brown told The Associated Press, adding that the missile was filed from land.
The attacks come amid a time of tension in the region marked by Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, where 1.3 million Palestinians live. Jordan, which is home to 1.8 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants, signed a peace deal with Israel in 1994.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks, but Islamic extremists have long criticized Jordan's U.S.-allied moderate government for its peace treaty with Israel and close ties with the West.
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, speaking in southern Israel, said 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.
The rocket fired into Israel created a small crater in the road, about 15 yards from the Eilat airport fence, said a local police commander, Avi Azulin. The commander said the rocket was fired from nearby Jordan.
A taxi driver, who passed on the road just as the rocket fell, was lightly injured. However, the rocket did not hit his car, witnesses said.
U.S. frigates, apparently part of routine exercises with the Jordanian army, were seen docked at the mouth of the Red Sea port earlier this week.
In retrospect, giving no quarter and showing no mercy to the terrorists may not have been a bad idea.NATO AIR said:Keep in mind the majority of Jordan's people are now Palestinians.... there are many radicals in the nation... Abdullah can only do so much, and if he were to declare war like his father did, the West would be up in arms about human rights violations (and understandably so, because King Hussein II gave no quarter, showed no mercy to the terrorists when the PLO tried to take over in the 70's)
CSM said:In retrospect, giving no quarter and showing no mercy to the terrorists may not have been a bad idea.
CSM said:As an update....guess who is claiming responsibility?
I think we all know full well who did it.CSM said:As an update....guess who is claiming responsibility?
August 20, 2005
One dead in al-Qaeda rocket attack on ships
By Rana Sabbagh-Gargour
TWO missiles fired at US Navy ships in the port of Aqaba, Jordan, yesterday missed their targets and hit a warehouse and a military hospital, killing one soldier and injuring another.
A third missile landed on the perimeter of the airport in the neighbouring Israeli resort of Eilat. A group linked to al-Qaeda, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, claimed responsibility in an internet statement, which has not yet been verified.
It has claimed responsibility for other attacks including the recent bombings in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. The two US ships, which arrived in Jordan ten days ago, headed for the safety of open water after the attack. A spokesman for the Fifth Fleet said that one of the missiles narrowly missed the USS Ashland, an amphibious warfare vessel.
The attack was apparently with Katyusha rockets from a warehouse, rented by two Iraqi and two Egyptian men, on the outskirts of the city.
The Jordanian authorities pride themselves on being able to curtail al-Qaedas attempts to attack the country because of its American links. There are about 300 al-Qaeda linked suspects in Jordanian jails.
