The King condemned the attack, saying the criminal act will not affect Jordan's determination to promote Islam's moderation and show its true image that terrorists seek to destroy.

HRH Prince Feisal, the Regent, attended a military funeral for Najdawi yesterday in the soldier's hometown of Zay in the Salt Governorate.

Najdawi was killed early Friday when a rocket aimed at a US warship missed its target and slammed into a warehouse. Another JAF soldier, Ahmad Mutleq, was also wounded in the attack.

“We all pledge our souls for the country... despite the great pain caused by the loss of my son,” said Najdawi's father shortly after his eldest son was laid to rest.

Their Royal Highnesses Prince Hamzah and Prince Hashim, Prime Minister Adnan Badran, Chief of the Royal Court Faisal Fayez, several senior officials and military and security officers attended the funeral.

The Regent, during a visit to Aqaba following the attack, urged senior security officials there to exert more efforts to safeguard the Kingdom, stressing the importance of arresting the culprits as soon as possible.

Prince Feisal also visited the Princess Haya Military Hospital to check on Ahmad Mutleq's health condition.

Yesterday, a government official said all efforts were being undertaken to determine who was responsible for the attack. He said the Cabinet, during Saturday's session, expressed their faith that the security forces would soon apprehend the culprits.

The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, an Al Qaeda-linked group, claimed responsibility for the attacks in an Internet statement. The statement has not been authenticated.

The group has previously claimed responsibility for a string of recent attacks on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, which caused around a 100 deaths.

Also yesterday, the Senate strongly condemned what it described as a “criminal and cowardly act,” which contradicts the norms of the Islamic faith and Jordanian traditions.

Senate President Zeid Rifai saluted the JAF and the national security apparatus over their efforts to protect the Kingdom and its citizens.

The Lower House also expressed its denunciation of this “sinful act,” saying it had targeted the Kingdom's security and stability and the city of Aqaba in particular. House Speaker Abdul Hadi Majali expressed the House's sympathies over the death of Najdawi.

The Abdullah Azzam Brigades are named after a famous figure of the jihad against the Russians in Afghanistan during the 1980s.

However, Abdullah Azzam's son Huthayfa described the Aqaba attack as “a criminal and terrorist act” and strongly objected to his father's name being associated with such terrorist organisations.

Huthayfa told Al Rai daily and The Jordan Times on Friday that his father had written a book on the sinfulness of killing Muslims, saying the organisation took his father's name to make “their sinful deeds look good.”

Azzam, a university professor who wrote many books on jihad, is said to have been assassinated by unknown assailants in Afghanistan in 1988.