Al-Qaeda group claims Jordan rocket attacks

A group claiming links with al-Qaeda says it fired rockets at US Navy ships in Jordan and at an Israeli port.

Two missiles were launched at the ships at Aqaba but missed their targets and hit a warehouse and a military hospital, killing a Jordanian soldier.

A website statement claiming responsibility has been published in the name of the Abdullah al-Azzam Brigades of the al-Qaeda organisation in the Levant and Egypt.

Earlier this month it was one of several organisations that said it was behind the bomb attacks on a market and hotels in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik.

The Israeli defence minister said one or two rockets fell in Eilat, which is nine kilometres across the Red Sea from Aqaba but no one was hurt.

They struck near the airport.

A Jordanian security source said authorities were searching for three men after the attack, which was launched from an industrial warehouse area in Aqaba.

The price of oil climbed back above 64 dollars a barrel after the strike, even though Jordan is not a major exporter.

Copyright © 2009 euronews