[David]

AP


Unknown assailants fired at least three missiles from Jordan early Friday, with one narrowly missing a U.S. Navy ship docked at port, an attack that killed a Jordanian soldier. One missile fell close to an airport in neighboring Israel, officials said.

One of the mortars was fired in the vicinity of two U.S. Navy ships docked in the port of Aqaba, Jordan, the U.S. military said, but it missed and hit a nearby warehouse.

Jordanian soldier Ahmed Jamal Saleh was fatally wounded when the mortar sailed over one of the U.S. ships and slammed into the warehouse, a Jordanian security official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The soldier died in the ambulance taking him to hospital; another Jordanian was also wounded, the official added.

There were no American injuries.

The U.S. Central Command said the ships were the USS Ashland and the USS Kearsarge. The Ashland is an amphibious warfare ship designed to transport Marines and their combat gear along with assault landing craft and helicopters.

The Kearsarge is an assault command ship that can carry 1200 troops.

"At approximately 8:44 a.m. local time a suspected mortar rocket flew over the (amphibious) USS Ashland over the bow and impacted a warehouse on the pier in the vicinity of the Ashland and the USS Kearsarge which were in port," said Lt. Cdr. Charlie Brown of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, in a statement.

"The warehouse sustained an approximate 8 foot hole in the roof of the building and no sailors or Marines were injured in the attack," said Brown, adding that the missile was fired from land.

The Red Sea port serves as a logistics hub for Iraq, used by the military for moving supplies.

A Jordanian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said another missile landed near a Jordanian hospital.

The attacks come amid a time of tension in the region marked by Israel's withdrawal from Gaza.

An Internet statement released by the al Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades militant group claimed responsibility for Friday's rocket attacks.

"A group of our holy warriors ... targeted a gathering of American military ships docking in Aqaba port and also in Eilat port with three Katyusha rockets and the warriors returned safe to their headquarters," said the statement, which could not be immediately verified.

U.S. Navy spokesman Lt. Cdr. Charlie Brown, of the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said a rocket flew over the Ashland's bow at about 8:44 a.m., crashing through a nearby pier warehouse and leaving an 8 foot hole in its roof.

The U.S. military also used the warehouse, which stored goods bound for Iraq, according to Jordanian authorities.

The two vessels, which arrived in port Aug. 13 and had been involved in exercises with the Jordanian military, later sailed out as a result of the attacks, Brown said.

"It may simply have been a 'target of opportunity,' that a group or individual that wanted to target the United States noticed that these exercises were going on, saw a particular vulnerability and thought that it might be a good time to attack," said Bensahel.

Jordanian soldier Ahmed Jamal Saleh was fatally wounded when the rocket slammed into the warehouse and died in an ambulance taking him to hospital, a Jordanian security official told The Associated Press.

Another unidentified Jordanian was wounded, the official added. No American sailors or Marines were injured.

Navy Cmdr. Jeff Breslau said the Navy's security measures employed after the Cole attack were in place in Jordan.

"When we pull in, we work very closely with the host nation to conduct a threat assessment in the area," Breslau told CNN by telephone from Bahrain.

The Jordanian official said another rocket landed near a public hospital about 1.2 miles away. It was unclear if there were any casualties or damages caused.

In neighboring Israel's Red Sea resort of Eilat, police and witnesses said a Katyusha rocket fired from Jordan slammed into a taxi traveling near the city's airport, but did not explode.

"I heard a noise, the car shook, and I kept driving for two more meters (yards)," said Israeli cab driver Meir Farhan, 40, who suffered mild wounds. "I didn't realize what it was, (but) when I went out of the car I saw a hole in the ground on the asphalt."

The rocket left a small crater in the road about 15 yards from the Eilat airport fence, said local police commander Avi Azulin.