Huge blast rocks Jordan military arms depot

A huge explosion rocked a Jordanian military munitions depot early yesterday sparking a large fire, but the army said there were no casualties at the base located in an uninhabited area.  The military said the blast was accidental and likely caused by a chemical reaction inside a shell amid a blistering heatwave in the desert country. "An explosion occurred in the early hours of Friday ... in a warehouse containing unusable mortar bombs belonging to the armed forces," government spokesman said in a statement. The blast happened in the city of Zarqa, 25 kilometres (15 miles) east of the capital Amman, where several Jordanian bases and depots are located. Images which swiftly spread on social media showed a huge ball of flames rising into the night sky. Preliminary findings indicated that "the explosion was due to high temperatures provoking a chemical reaction in a shell", the military said in a statement.