A rocket attack which narrowly missed two US warships in Jordan may be a signal Iraq's al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi has opened a new front against Washington's closest Arab ally, security experts said on Sunday.
The two US warships were likely to be carefully chosen targets, the experts said. The vessels are among those that have been regularly docking and unloading supplies in the Red Sea port of Aqaba since the US led the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Jordanian intelligence experts say the attack using Katyusha rockets indicates Zarqawi may favour expanding military attacks to pro-US ally Jordan to hurt Washington's war effort in Iraq.
"Zarqawi appreciates more than ever that by hitting the US military in Jordan he would score not just a symbolic victory but maybe disrupt a hitherto safe supply route for the US army into bases in the western desert (of Iraq)," said one intelligence expert and official who requested anonymity.
Jordan denies providing logistical backing to Washington's military campaign though the US military have said in briefings it has used the country as a main supply route.
Friday's attack missed the USS Ashland and its sister ship the USS Kearsage and was the most serious on US targets in the staunchly pro-Western kingdom since the killing of US diplomat Lawrence Foley in Amman in 2002.
"This is the first time they actually penetrated in a well co-ordinated military operation. Zarqawi will have learned from this how to conduct a military operation in Jordan even if it missed its target...," one security official said.
The incident has stoked fears in a tightly policed country that has not seen the kind of attacks on tourist resorts and Westerners that have taken place elsewhere.