Three missiles fired at U.S. ships in Jordan

Attack claimed by al-Qaida unit; rocket also fired at Israeli airport

Attackers fired at least three missiles from Jordan on Friday, with one narrowly missing a U.S. Navy ship docked in a Jordanian port and killing a Jordanian soldier, and another falling close to a nearby airport in neighboring Israel, officials said.

Jordanian security forces are hunting a Syrian and two Iraqi nationals, a security source said.

An Internet statement released by the al-Qaida-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades militant group claimed responsibility the attacks.

Officials said they believe Katyusha rockets were fired from a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Aqaba, a Jordanian Red Sea port 210 miles south of the capital, Amman, officials added.

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

The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain, said two American amphibious ships were docked in Aqaba when the mortar was fired toward them. The vessels later sailed out of port as a result of the attacks, U.S. Navy spokesman Lt. Cdr. Charlie Brown told The Associated Press in Bahrain.

"At approximately 8:44 a.m. local time, a suspected mortar rocket flew over the USS Ashland's bow and impacted in a warehouse on the pier in the vicinity of the Ashland and USS Kearsage," Brown said. "The warehouse sustained an approximate 8 foot (2.5 meter) hole in the roof of the building."

No sailors or Marines were injured in the attack, Brown added.