None hurt as Grad rockets strike Arava near Uvda

No injuries or damage caused by rocket attacks; IDF investigating if fired from Egypt or Jordan.

Police officiers remove the remains of a Grad rocket 311 (R) (photo credit: REUTERS/Amir Cohen)
Police officiers remove the remains of a Grad rocket 311 (R)
(photo credit: REUTERS/Amir Cohen)
A Grad-model Katyusha rocket slammed into the southern Arava near Uvda overnight between Friday and Saturday.
Sappers were sent to the scene early Saturday morning after residents complained of hearing a loud explosion the night before. After locating the remains of the rocket, the sappers determined it had been a 122 mm. Katyusha.
The IDF was investigating whether the rocket was fired from Egypt or Jordan. The Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al Youm quoted an Egyptian security source as denying that it came from Sinai.
“These are simply false allegations by Israel aimed at destabilizing the security situation and affecting [Egypt’s] electoral process,” the security source said. Egypt is holding the second round of its presidential elections this weekend.
Police bomb squad officers found the remains of a second rocket on Saturday at Mitzpe Ramon, in the heart of the Negev.
“It’s a 122 millimeter-diameter Grad-type rocket, the same type of rocket that was fired earlier at Uvda,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told The Jerusalem Post.
Security officials were examining when the rocket was launches, as well as additional circumstances surrounding the incident.
A number of rockets were fired into the Eilat area last April from the Sinai, which is now considered a terror hotbed. Hamas, for example, is believed to store some of its weapons there to protect them from Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.
In 2005, a rocket was fired from Jordan into Eilat.