Car bomb attack on Jordan border troops kills 6, wounds 14

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — A pick-up truck rigged with explosives blew up near a Jordanian army post on the sealed border with war-ravaged Syria on Tuesday, killing six members of Jordan’s security forces and wounding 14, the military and a witness said.

It was the deadliest attack along the tense border in recent memory and raised new concerns about the pro-Western kingdom’s vulnerability to spillover from long-running conflicts next door.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the assault, the third against Jordanian security installations in the seven months. The previous two attacks had targeted security compounds inside Jordan.

The military said Tuesday’s explosion went off at 5:30 a.m. near an encampment for tens of thousands of Syrian refugees who are stranded in a remote area on the border and await entry into Jordan. The attack targeted a military post serving Syrian refugees in an area known as Ruqban, the amy said.

A Ruqban resident said that sometime after 5 a.m., he saw a pickup truck speeding toward a Jordanian border gate and crashing through it. Seconds later, a blast went off, followed by the sound of shooting, said the resident who spoke to The Associated Press over the phone from the Ruqban area. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions from the authorities.

Cell phone photos from the camp show a cloud of gray smoke rising in the distance, with tents in the foreground.

Ruqban is the larger of two tent encampments that expanded rapidly in recent months as more Syrians fleeing fighting at home try to reach Jordan. The camps have also attracted smugglers, war profiteers and members of various armed groups fighting in Syria’s civil war.

The Jordanian military said those killed in Tuesday’s attack included four border troops, a member of the civil defense and a public security officer. The statement said 14 were wounded, including nine public security officers. It described the bombing as a “cowardly terrorist attack.”

Ruqban and the smaller Hadalat camp house about 64,000 Syrians, according to estimates by international aid agencies. Both camps are located near an earthen mound, or berm, that runs along the border. Ruqban is just a few miles from the point where Syria, Jordan and Iraq meet.

It was not immediately clear if Tuesday’s attack would disrupt daily deliveries of food, water and other essentials by international aid agencies to the refugees.

Ariane Rummery, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency in Geneva, said the attack took place several kilometers from Ruqban camp and that she was not aware of any injuries among Syrians,

“Clearly the attack underlines how challenging the relief operation is at the berm,” she said. “We remain concerned about the level of security issues at the berm and for humanitarian agencies working there.”

Several aid groups, including the World Food Program, said they were not able to reach distribution points near the berm Tuesday.

With crowds at the berm swelling rapidly in recent weeks, the situation for refugees in the two encampments has become increasingly dire.

Jordan only admits several dozen refugees every day, citing the need for stringent security vetting.

Jordanian officials have said they have evidence that activists of the extremist group Islamic State have infiltrated the two camps and are attempting to slip into Jordan, pretending to be refugees.

In recent weeks, the pace of admissions increased slightly, as part of Jordan’s promise to the United States to let in at least 20,000 Syrians. It was not clear if the attack would lead to a change in procedures.

Jordan is a member of the U.S.-led international military coalition against Islamic State, which controls large areas in neighboring Syria and Iraq. Jordan has fortified border defenses, including with U.S.-funded surveillance systems, to try to stop attackers and infiltrators.

Jordan has also widened a crackdown on IS sympathizers at home, jailing hundreds in the past two years for promoting the group’s ideas on social media.

Jordanian security installations were targeted twice before in the past seven months.

In November, a Jordanian police captain opened fire on instructors at an international police training center in the capital of Amman, killing five people, including two Americans, before being shot dead by security forces.

Two weeks ago, a gunmen armed with an assault rifle killed five people in an office of Jordan’s intelligence agency. The assailant, said to have previous ties to Islamic militant groups, was arrested several hours later. The government said he was a lone wolf and imposed a gag order, preventing further reporting.

Jordan officials have played down concerns that militants, including IS activists, pose an external and internal threat to the kingdom, seen as a crucial ally by the West in combating extremism.

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Associated Press writers Sam McNeil in Amman, Jordan, and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.