Jordan declared its border regions with Iraq and Syria “closed military zones” after a suicide bombing on Tuesday killed six soldiers and injured 14 others.
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People light candles during a candlelight vigil in solidarity with the Jordanian soldiers who were killed in an attack on a border military post near a camp for Syrian refugees, in Amman, Jordan, June 21, 2016.
An earlier statement added that “a number of the hostile attacking vehicles near the berm were destroyed”. The rest of the border is heavily guarded by patrols and drones.
Jordan, an important regional ally of the US, joined the USA -led coalition against Islamic State in 2014.
The United States strongly condemns today’s attack on Jordanian security forces, and expresses its deepest condolences to the victims, their families, and the Jordanian people.
Ruqban and the smaller Hadalat camp house about 64,000 Syrians, according to estimates by worldwide aid agencies.
It is near the Rakban refugee camp where around 50,000 Syria refugees are waiting in the desert in the hope of being eventually admitted into Jordan.
Jordan has kept tight control of its frontier with Syria since the outbreak of the war in its neighbour.
Jordan’s Information Minister, Mohammed Momani, told the BBC that humanitarian cases at the border would be assessed on a case-by-case basis by armed forces.
UNHCR representative Andrew Harper said he was not aware of any Syrian asylum-seekers being hurt in Tuesday’s attack.
Jordan has limited the entry of Syrians, saying it has found many Islamic State militants among them.
Ruqban and a smaller camp are located on a raised earth ledge known as a berm that runs along the border near where Syria, Jordan and Iraq meet.
“We strongly condemn the latest terrorist attack on Jordanian soil”, the Foreign Ministry said. WFP staff in Jordan travel 160 kilometers daily in four trucks to deliver vegetables, fruit and canned food to the refugees, who cross an earthen barrier running along the border to receive their rations before returning to camps in a no-man’s land, he said.
Other parts of the border have been sealed as Jordan attempts to prevent jihadists infiltrating from Syria.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
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The attack came two weeks after five Jordanian intelligence agents were killed when a gunman stormed the General Intelligence Directorate office in Ain el-Basha near the Palestinian refugee camp of al Baqa’a.
