Rockets Fired From Jordan at U.S. and Israeli Targets Posted: August 23, 2005

Three Katyusha rockets were fired from the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba in an attack against U.S. and Israeli targets. 

On August 19, two rockets fired from a warehouse in Aqaba narrowly missed docked U.S. Navy ships, hitting a nearby warehouse and a hospital.  One Jordanian soldier was killed and another seriously wounded.  Another rocket fell near an airport in Eilat just across the Israel-Jordan border.  A taxi driver was reportedly wounded. 

Responsibility for the attack was claimed in a statement posted on the Internet by a group calling itself the Abdullah Azzam Brigades.  The statement said “Zionists are our rightful target” and promised a future attack in Tel Aviv.

The group’s statement, released on the same day as the attacks, also said, “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.”  The authenticity of the statement has not been verified.

The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, which claims to be affiliated with Al Qaeda, was among several groups that claimed responsibility for previous attacks on Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, including the Sharm el Sheik bombings on July 23 that killed over 60 people.

The rocket strikes are the most serious attempted attack on a U.S. military ship since the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in Aden, Yemen, in October 2000.  Seventeen U.S. sailors were killed in that attack.