Blasts occur at Jordan munitions depot, no injuries reported

ZARQA, Jordan – Several explosions occurred early Friday in a Jordanian military base warehouse where unusable mortar shells were being stored, with no immediate reports of any injuries, authorities said.

The warehouses are in an isolated area east of the city of Zarqa, which was sealed off by security forces. The army released a statement saying that recent high temperatures had caused a chemical reaction inside one of the shells, triggering the blast.

Government spokesman Amjad Adaileh was quoted by the state-run Petra news agency as saying there were no reports of injuries.

The region is still on edge following last month’s massive explosion in Beirut, which was caused by the apparently accidental ignition of nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been stored at a warehouse in the Lebanese capital’s port for several years.

The Aug. 4 blast killed 192 people, wounded 6,500, left a quarter million people homeless and caused damage worth billions of dollars.