Investigations revealed that a Soviet-made Grad missile fired from outside Jordan hit the Red Sea port of Aqaba, according to the Jordanian information minister.
“A Grad missile fired from outside Jordan landed in Aqaba. No rockets have been fired from inside the country,” Nabil Sharif told the Petra news agency. “Investigations are still ongoing to find out more details,” he added.
Earlier, security sources said that the blast was caused by a Katyusha rocket and investigations were being carried out to determine where it had been launched.
They said they were trying to determine the launch site and who might have been behind the attack. Aqaba residents reported hearing at least two early morning explosions in the city.
According to eyewitnesses, security forces cordoned off the area where the explosion occurred and prevented reporters from entering the scene.
Mohammad Masri, a researcher at the Centre of Strategic Studies of the University of Jordan, said that the rockets could have been fired either from Jordan, Egypt or the open sea “to send a message to Israel that its borders will remain insecure as long as a just solution for the Palestinian people remains outstanding.”
He told Doha-based Al-Jazeera network that the rockets could have been fired by groups “who have become frustrated by the impasse that have delayed peace talks since the arrival to power of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
The incident occurred as jitters were high a week after Israel issued an “urgent” warning to its citizens to leave Egypt’s nearby Sinai Peninsula immediately, citing “concrete evidence of an expected terrorist attempt to kidnap Israelis in Sinai.”
— With input from agencies
