Israel
Rockets fired at Eilat and Aqaba
Several rockets have been fired at Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat and the Jordanian city of Aqaba.
August 2, 2010 08:56
Several rockets have been fired at Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat and the Jordanian city of Aqaba.
August 2, 2010 08:56Several rockets have been fired at Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat, although no injuries have been reported.
Officials said they believe the five rockets were fired from within Egypt.
The short-range rockets also hit the Jordanian city of Aqaba, minutes from Eilat on the other side of the Red Sea, exploding outside a hotel and killing one man and injuring three others.
Two other rockets are thought to have landed in the sea.
Jordan's Information Minister Ali Ayed said: "Preliminary investigation showed that the rocket was fired from outside Jordanian territory.”
Moshe Cohen, Eilat District Police Commander, said: "It's a little early to say, but it is reasonable to assume that it came from the southern area."
Two rockets that hit the coastal city in April 2010 were also believed to have been fired by Islamic militants operating in the Sinai peninsula.
A suicide bomber struck Eilat in January 2007, killing three people.
The joint attacks on Israel and Jordan come less than a week after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu met his Jordanian counterpart, King Abdullah II, to discuss the peace process.
They also follow an incident on Thursday in which a rocket was fired from Gaza into a residential part of the southern city of Ashkelon, leading Israel to retaliate with strikes on tunnels used by Hamas for smuggling.
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