AMMAN: Jordan said a series of massive explosions that rocked the city of Zarqa early on Friday was caused by by mortar shells stored at an army munitions depot warping in an intense heat wave, the army said.
Army spokesman Brigadier General Talal al Ghobain said investigations indicated the intense heat caused the “thermal expansion of mortar shells” in the arms depot on the eastern outskirts of the sprawling city of 1.5 million people.
The blasts had earlier been attributed to an electrical short circuit.
There were no reports of casualties from the explosions which took place in the desert east of Jordan’s second-largest city, the government and the army command said.
Huge orange flames lit the desert night sky and could be seen as far away as Amman, 35 km to the southwest.
Security forces sealed off Zarqa and prevented traffic from leaving or entering. Journalists wanting to travel through Zarqa to the blast site about 10 km to the east were prevented from doing so.
The desert area where the explosions took place houses several major US-equipped army bases, including an airfield built in 2018