Egypt Admits Rocket Attack from its own Soil

by Maggie Michael
Associated Press
August 4, 2010

http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/1783/egypt-admits-rocket-attack-from-its-own-soil

CAIRO — The deadly rocket attacks on Israel and Jordan's Red Sea ports were carried out by the militant Palestinian Hamas group operating from Egypt, an Egyptian official said Wednesday after days of denials.

Immediately after a barrage of rockets crashed into the sea near Israel's Eilat resort town and killed a taxi driver in Jordan's Aqaba port, Egyptian officials had strongly denied they had come from its soil.

The security official said Hamas had fired seven rockets, including one which misfired and left debris near a security facility in the town of Taba.

The attackers fired Soviet-style Grad rockets of the type used by militants in Lebanon and Gaza, he added, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The rockets hit a narrow area of the Red Coast where the Israeli and Jordanian ports are located side by side. One person was killed and four people wounded.

It was the second such attack this year, after a similar volley in April that Israel also said was fired from Egypt.

Aqaba and Eilat are more than 190 miles (300 kilometers) from Hamas' stronghold in the Gaza Strip.

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