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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Jordan Seeks Arrest in Aqaba Rocket Attack |
| 2005-08-28 |
| Jordan wants Iraq to arrest three suspected al-Qaida-linked militants who purportedly fled to the neighboring country after staging a rocket attack that narrowly missed a U.S. warship in Aqaba, the interior minister said in remarks published Saturday. Awni Yirfas said his government was in close contact with Iraqi authorities over the Aug. 19 firing of three Katyusha rockets from the Red Sea port city, including one that missed a Navy ship but killed a Jordanian soldier when it slammed into a pier warehouse. Another landed in neighboring Israel. Jordanian police have arrested one of four suspects, Syrian citizen Mohammed Hassan Abdullah al-Sihly. Three others, including al-Sihly's two sons and the alleged Iraqi leader of the al-Qaida-linked group, Mohammed Hamid Hussein, are believed to have fled to Iraq, Jordan said this week. "We will use all possible means to arrest those who committed the terrorist attack in Aqaba, including diplomatic channels between Jordan and Iraq," Yirfas was quoted as saying by Jordan's biggest two newspapers, Al Rai and Ad-Dustour. On Tuesday, Yirfas said the rocket attacks were linked to Al-Qaida in Iraq, which is led by the Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. On the same day, al-Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for the attack in an Internet statement. Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr had been expected in Amman on Friday to discuss cooperation in the investigation with Yirfas, but his visit was postponed amid Iraq's constitutional dispute and continued violence. A news bulletin on state-run TV late Saturday alleged the detained Syrian, al-Sihly, had told interrogators that before the attack his cell had been in contact with its "leadership in Iraq," an apparent reference to al-Zarqawi's group. "They were using Iraqi mobile phones to call their leadership to receive instructions and keep it up to date on the (Aqaba) terror plot," claimed the news anchor without providing further details, including how the station obtained the information. |
| Posted by:Fred |