more s**t hitting the fan

[briannell]

The U.S. Navy vessels USS Kearsage, right, an amphibious assault ship, and the USS Ashland, a dock-landing ship, leave the Aqaba dockside following the attack on Friday.


• Close call
Aug. 19: Rockets are fired in Jordan, missing two U.S. Navy ships and striking an airport in neighboring Israel. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.

AMMAN, Jordan - Attackers fired at least three missiles from Jordan on Friday, with one narrowly missing a U.S. Navy ship docked in a Jordanian port and killing a Jordanian soldier, and another falling close to a nearby airport in neighboring Israel, officials said.

Jordanian security forces are hunting a Syrian and two Iraqi nationals, a security source said.

An Internet statement released by the al-Qaida-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades militant group claimed responsibility the attacks.


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.


Officials said they believe Katyusha rockets were fired from a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Aqaba, a Jordanian Red Sea port 210 miles south of the capital, Amman, officials added.

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

Jordanian soldier Ahmed Jamal Saleh was fatally wounded when a mortar sailed over a U.S. Navy ship docked in Aqaba and slammed into a 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, while another unidentified Jordanian was also wounded, the official added.

U.S. ships leave port
The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain, said two American amphibious ships were docked in Aqaba when the mortar was fired toward them. The vessels later sailed out of port as a result of the attacks, U.S. Navy spokesman Lt. Cdr. Charlie Brown told The Associated Press in Bahrain.

"At approximately 8:44 a.m. local time, a suspected mortar rocket flew over the USS Ashland's bow and impacted in a warehouse on the pier in the vicinity of the Ashland and USS Kearsage," Brown said. "The warehouse sustained an approximate 8 foot (2.5 meter) hole in the roof of the building."


Jo Kot / AFP-Getty Images
Israeli security forces inspect the crater caused by a rocket explosion launched from Jordan on Friday.
No sailors or Marines were injured in the attack, Brown added.

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

Israeli police and witnesses said a Katyusha 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 mild 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, said local police commander Avi Azulin. 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."

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

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.

"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. 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.