The attack on the border guards, by a suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden truck, has coalesced feelings in Jordan against allowing any more refugees into the Kingdom. Although Jordan is one of the few Arab nations who does not face regular terrorist threats, they have been on high alert lately in regards to proposed attacks from the Islamic State.
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It was not immediately clear if the attack would disrupt daily deliveries of food, water and other essentials by global aid agencies to the refugees. The camp is known as Ruqban, the larger one of two that sprang up as growing numbers of Syrians fleeing fighting at home tried to get into Jordan. The source said the attack appeared to be a well-planned military operation.
The London-based rights group Amnesty International said that a total border closure and denial of humanitarian aid “would inevitably lead to extreme hardship among those unable to find refuge and put their lives at risk”. “We need to advocate with the Jordanian authorities to let this population inside Jordan while recognizing that there are legitimate security concerns and help the Jordanians to screen this population”.
In recent weeks, aid agencies had won Jordan’s agreement to set up more prefab trailers in the area to improve distribution and refugee registration.
Jordan sealed the area on Tuesday, after a vehicle bomb attack launched from the Ruqban area killed six Jordanian troops and wounded 14.
For months, Jordan has “been warning the global community and everybody of the increased number of people on the other side of the border, ” Momani said Tuesday.
Tuesday’s attack was carried out near the Syrian border; no group has claimed responsibility for it yet.
“So you have real issues of extremism in this country, some of these individuals leave Jordan and go to Syria or Iraq and Join Islamic State”.
Meanwhile, Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood group condemned the attacks against Jordanian soldiers.
Jordan takes pride in the competence of its security and intelligence services, which it says have thwarted repeated attempts by extremists to attack local and western targets.
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In November, a Jordanian police captain opened fire on instructors at an global police training center in the capital, Amman, killing five people, including two Americans, before being shot dead by security forces.
