Three rockets were fired at two US Navy ships in Jordan's Aqaba port yesterday, but they missed their targets and hit a warehouse and a hospital, killing a Jordanian soldier, and striking the Israeli port of Eilat.
The Katyusha rockets, weapons routinely used by Palestinian militants and Lebanon's Hezbollah group in attacks against Israel, were fired from an Aqaba warehouse which was rented this week by four people holding Egyptian and Iraqi nationalities, Jordan's state-run Petra news agency reported, citing preliminary investigations.
A Jordanian security source said authorities were searching for three men in connection with the attack, a Syrian and two Iraqis.
Immediately after the attack, the two US amphibious assault ships, which had been on a joint training exercise with the Jordanian navy, weighed anchor and headed for the safety of open water.
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said "one or two" Katyusha rockets fell in the airport and hotel area of Eilat, which is about 9km across the Red Sea from Aqaba, but no one was hurt.
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