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The attacker struck shortly after noon with a mortar shell at an army munitions depot in the country’s second-largest city.
The army said the projectile exploded due to the high temperatures. However, no casualties were immediately reported.
The military base is quite far from the residential area of the city. However, the explosion was so powerful that flames were seen in the sky from the capital, Amman, some 35 kilometers away. The sound of an explosion was also heard.
The Jordanian government initially said the explosion was caused by an electrical short circuit.
An army spokesman, Brigadier General Talal al-Gobain, said the blast was caused by a chemical reaction in a mortar shell triggered by the high temperatures.
“It looks like an earthquake,” said a Zarqa resident. The windows of our house shook and the glass shattered. The children immediately burst into tears. “
Earlier, government spokesman Amjad Adailah said that mortars stored at the base had become obsolete and unusable. Furthermore, temperatures in Jordan have also risen considerably recently.
Neighbors Syria, Israel, Palestine and Iraq, as well as Jordan, have seen temperatures surpass 45 degrees Celsius this month. The country has not seen this level of heat wave in decades.
The Jordanian army chief of staff told state media that the damage had been reduced due to the rapid response to the blast.
Security forces cordoned off the city of Zarqa shortly after the explosion. Journalists cannot go to the place.
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