Jihadists claim rocket attack on Israel

Jihadist fighters say they have fired a Grad rocket into Israel in retaliation for an alleged Israeli air raid.

A group of jihadist fighters say they have fired a Grad rocket on the Israeli Red Sea town of Eilat in retaliation for an alleged Israeli air raid.

The Mujahideen Shura Council said in a statement published on a jihadist forum its fighters fired the rocket at 1am (0900 AEST) on Tuesday.

The statement did not say whether the rocket attack caused any damage or injuries.

The rocket, fired from the Sinai, was "a quick response to the last crime by the Jews after one of their drones bombed the Sinai peninsula killing four mujahideen" on Friday.

Another jihadist group, Egypt's Ansar Beit al-Maqdis which has claimed allegiance to al-Qaeda and repeated attacks on Israeli targets, has blamed the Jewish state for the Friday strike.

The group accused the Egyptian army of co-ordinating the attack with Israel, and threatened more strikes against the Jewish state.

"How can the Egyptian army allow the Zionist unmanned planes to cross into Egyptian territory," the statement asked.

Egypt's military has denied the claim.

"There is no truth whatsoever to any Israeli strikes inside Egyptian territory and the claim that there is Egyptian and Israeli co-ordination on the matter is utterly baseless," military spokesman Colonel Ahmed Aly said in a statement on Friday.

Officials told AFP the strike came from the Egyptian military, as part of their campaign to curtail a surge in violence and rein in militant activity in the lawless Sinai.

The state owned Al-Ahram newspaper and the official news agency MENA reported on Saturday that Egyptian military aircraft conducted the strike, quoting anonymous security officials.

Witnesses said Egyptian military helicopters hovered above the site after the blasts.


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Source: AAP



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