AMMAN, Jordan, April 26 (UPI) -- Six defendants who appeared in court on charges of firing rockets at U.S. warships in Jordan's port of Aqaba on the Red Sea pleaded not guilty.
The first hearing in the case, in which six others are being tried in absentia, kicked off Wednesday at the state security court in Amman amid tight security measures.
The main defendant, Mohammed Hassan Sahili, a Syrian national, told his defense minister before the court convened that those who carried out the attack are present in Iraq and he had no involvement with the operation.
The rocket attack on Aqaba occurred last August when an armed group from Iraq fired three Katyusha rockets, two of which near-missed the U.S. boats, hitting instead a warehouse of the Jordanian army, killing a Jordanian soldier and wounding another.
The third rocket hit the nearby Israeli town of Eilat.
In addition to Sahili, three of his children, another Syrian and a Jordanian appeared in court as defendants. The six tried in absentia include two of Sahili's children and four Iraqis.
The charges included conspiracy for conducting terrorist activities on Jordanian territory, smuggling arms from Iraq and carrying out illegal activities aimed at jeopardizing Jordan's relations with foreign countries.
The indictment said three of the armed group came from Iraq on a terrorist mission and managed to smuggle seven Katyusha rockets, three of which they used to target the U.S. warships.
It said the perpetrators left Jordan hours after carrying out the attack.
