Katyusha rockets were fired at two US warships in Jordan's Red Sea Aqaba port yesterday, narrowly missing their targets, and Jordanian security officials said they believed al Qaeda was involved in the attack.
The rockets hit a warehouse, a hospital and the nearby Israeli port of Eilat. A Jordanian soldier who was on duty at the warehouse was killed.
Jordanian Interior Minister Awni Yarfas told Reuters the rocket launcher was a crude device, which appeared to indicate its users "had not properly prepared for the attack."
Jordanian security forces later sealed off the derelict Shalala quarter of Aqaba, overlooking the port, and carried out house-to-house searches, security officials said.
A security source said the search was focused on three men. "We are searching for a Syrian and two Iraqis who are in Aqaba and used Kuwaiti (car) number plates," the source said. Another source said the rockets were launched from a warehouse leased a few days ago by three Iraqis and an Egyptian.
Jordan's close US ties and its 1994 peace with Israel are unpopular with many in the conservative kingdom and there is strong support for Islamist militants in some areas. Immediately after the attack, the two US ships weighed anchor and headed for open water.
US warships regularly dock at Aqaba, a logistics hub and main supply route for US forces in Iraq. It was the most serious attack on US targets in Jordan since the killing of US diplomat Lawrence Foley in Amman in 2002.
Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said "one or two" Katyusha rockets had fallen in the airport and hotel area of Eilat, about 9 km (5 miles) across the Red Sea from Aqaba, but no one was hurt.
The US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain said one missile narrowly missed the USS Ashland, an amphibious warfare ship designed to transport marines and launch assault landing craft and helicopters.