Police bomb squad officers found the remains of a second rocket fired deep into southern Israel on Saturday, at Mitzpe Ramon, in the heart of the Negev desert.

“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.

Police officers remove the remains of Grad rocket – Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Security officials are examining when the rocket was fired, as well as additional circumstances surrounding the incident.

Earlier on Saturday the remains of a Grad-model Katyusha rocket that slammed into the Arava Desert overnight Friday were discovered. The IDF was investigating whether the rocket was fired into Israel from Egypt or Jordan.

Bomb sappers were alerted to the scene Saturday morning after residents complained of hearing a loud explosion the night before. After locating the remains of the rocket, the sappers determined that it was a 122 mm Katyusha rocket.

Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al Youm quoted an Egyptian security source as denying that the rocket was fired from Sinai. “These are simply false allegations by Israel aimed at destabilizing the security situation and affecting [Egypt’s] electoral process.”

A number of rockets were fired into the Eilat area last April from the Sinai Peninsula which is believed to have turned into a terror hotbed. Hamas, for example, is believed to store some of its weapons in the peninsula to protect them from Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip. In 2005, a rocket was fired from Jordan into Eilat.

View original Jerusalem Post publication at: http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=274070