A suicide attacker driving a truck packed with explosives barreled through Syria’s border with Jordan, setting off a blast that killed six members of the Jordanian security forces and wounded 14.
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The United States-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants in Syria has been largely ineffective at containing the war because it lacks ground presence, said Andreas Krieg, an assistant professor at King’s College London who also works with the Qatar Armed Forces.
The southeastern desert area is close to where Islamic State militants are known to operate, according to a security source who requested anonymity.
“Terrorists strike again, this time against our border guard”, he tweeted.
The bombing comes two weeks after a gunman killed five Jordanian intelligence officers in a Palestinian refugee camp north of the capital.
The Jordanian army said several other vehicles used in the attack were destroyed.
Hasan Abu Hanien, an expert on extremist groups said the latest attack was a message from ISIL to Jordan.
“Jordan has a duty to protect civilians from armed attacks but its security measures must not violate its worldwide legal obligations to provide protection and assistance to refugees who are desperately fleeing the very same type of violence”, said Amnesty’s Sherif Elsayed Ali.
Minister of Media Affairs and Communications, Muhammad Momani, said all Jordanians stand united against such cowardly attacks.
The suicide bomber set off in a vehicle from a makeshift Syrian refugee camp in no man’s land near the Rukban border crossing. We commend Jordan for the tremendous sacrifices they have made in hosting hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees.
Jordan, an important regional ally of the US, joined the USA -led coalition against Islamic State in 2014.
Throughout the five-year civil war raging in Syria, Jordanian authorities have often reported foiling attempts by unknown parties to cross into the country from Syria.
The population of the camp has since previous year grown from several thousand to over 50,000 people as the fighting in Syria intensified, relief workers say.
The country has received large amounts of foreign aid to help cope with waves of refugees fleeing Syria, but has drawn criticism over conditions in the Rakban camp.
Judeh said that members of ISIS, whom he called “murderers”, had infiltrated some 100,000 people from the border area.
“The border will be closed”, Momani told reporters.
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Jordan says it is hosting almost 1.4 million Syrian refugees, of whom 630,000 are registered with the UN.
