Jordan Says Iraq Al-Qaeda Behind Rocket Attack

24 August 2005 -- Jordan says Al-Qaeda in Iraq is involved in last week's failed attack on U.S. warships in Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba.
Interior Minister Awni Yerfas said late yesterday the investigation showed a connection between the organization which conducted the rocket strikes and the group led by Jordanian-born Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi in Iraq.

The attack, in which the rockets missed the U.S. warships but killed a Jordanian soldier, was yesterday claimed by al-Zarqawi's group in a statement posted on the Internet.

It has also been claimed by another Al-Qaeda-linked group.

On 22 August, Jordan said it had arrested a Syrian national suspected, along with three other men, of plotting the attack.

(AFP/dpa)