"Qaeda" group claims attack on U.S. ships
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-08-19 21:30

A group claiming links to al Qaeda said on Friday it had fired rockets at a U.S. Navy ships in Jordan and an Israeli port, according to an Internet statement, Reuters reported.

The USS Ashland is seen at Aqaba port in Amman August 19, 2005. Two U.S. Navy ships sailed out of Jordan's port of Aqaba on Friday, soon after one of the vessels narrowly missed being struck by a missile, the U.S. Fifth Fleet and witnesses said. A group claiming links to al Qaeda said on Friday it had fired rockets at U.S. Navy ships in Jordan and an Israeli port, according to an Internet statement. [Reuters]

The statement, which could not be authenticated, was signed by the Abdullah al-Azzam Brigades of the al Qaeda Organization in the Levant and Egypt.

It was carried on an Islamist Web site not often used by other groups which say they are linked to Osama bin Laden's network.

"A group of our mujahideen have targeted U.S. vessels in Jordan and ( Israel's) Eilat port with three Katyusha rockets before safely returning to their base," the statement said.

"Zionists are a legitimate target and we warn the Americans, who are spreading their corruption throughout the world and who have stolen the wealth of the Muslim nation, to expect even more stinging attacks.

"This is our debut operation in Jordan," it added. "And as we have begun to destroy the throne of the Egyptian tyrant, we warn the Jordanian tyrant to release our jailed brothers and voluntarily abdicate before we force you to go."

Earlier this month, the group was one of several organizations that said it was behind the bomb attacks on a market and hotels in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. It has also claimed the October 2004 bombings at another Egyptian Red Sea resort.

Three rockets were fired at two U.S. Navy ships in Jordan's Aqaba port on Friday. They missed their targets and instead hit a warehouse and a hospital, killing a Jordanian soldier, and struck the Israeli port of Eilat.

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

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