August 19, 2005
By Revital Levy-Stein and Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondents, and Agencies
Haaretz
A Katyusha rocket fired from Jordan landed near the airport in Eilat on Friday and at least two rockets shook the nearby Jordanian port of Aqaba near a U.S. Navy ship, which was not damaged in the attack.
A Jordanian soldier was killed in Aqaba, a Jordanian security official said. An Israeli taxi driver was lightly wounded in the Eilat attack.
A group linked to al-Qaida claimed responsibility in an Internet statement, which could not be immediately verified. The statement was purportedly from the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, which has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks including the July 23 bombings in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula resort of Sharm el-Sheik.
Jordanian police located the Katyusha launcher in a warehouse in Aqaba, which was rented this week by four people holding Egyptian and Iraqi nationalities, which police was tracking down.
"We are searching for a Syrian and two Iraqis who are in Aqaba and used Kuwaiti number plates," said one security source.
Investigators do not yet know who is responsible for the attack, but recent intelligence information points to al-Qaida.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said the Eilat attack appeared to be intentional. A security official said it was not clear whether Eilat or two U.S. Navy vessels in Jordan were the true target of the rocket attack.
"Today's incident is apparently a missile launch aimed to strike both on the Israeli side and on the Jordanian side," Mofaz said, adding he was sure the Jordanians would do their best to prevent similar incidents.
Mofaz said he was in Jordan last week and spoke to King Abdullah about security cooperation. He said Israel had issued a travel warning for Jordan based on intelligence information that al-Qaida was planning to attack Israeli targets.
Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV said an interrogation of al-Qaida activists captured recently in Jordan indicated that they planned to launch rockets at Eilat from Jordan.
Aqaba and Eilat are about 15 kilometers apart and located on either side of the Jordan-Israeli border at the northern end of the Red Sea, close to the Sinai Peninsula.
The rocket created a small crater in the road, about 15 meters from the airport fence, said a local police commander, Avi Azulin.
The rocket missed the U.S. ship at Aqaba and hit a warehouse instead, U.S. military officials said. Two U.S. Navy vessels had been on a joint training exercise with the Jordanian navy, and left the area a short time after the attack.
If al-Qaida is involved in the Eilat attack, it would be the second recent instance of Al-Qaida militants using Mideast countries as bases from which to attack Israeli targets. Earlier this month, Israeli security sources said Turkish police had detained a suspected al-Qaida militant from Syria who they believe was organizing an attack on Israeli targets in Turkey.
An Internet statement released by the al-Qaida-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades militant group claimed responsibility for Friday's rocket attacks in Jordan and Israel.
"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.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4161660.stm