An explosion ripped near a Syrian refugee camp in the remote northeastern corner of Jordan on Tuesday, killing at least six security officials and wounding 14 others, army officials said.
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“Clearly the attack underlines how challenging the relief operation is at the berm”, she said.
The attack took place at 5:30 a.m. local time (10.30 p.m. Monday ET) in an area known as the Berm, along Jordan’s northeast border with Syria.
A car-bomb exploded near al-Rukban security checkpoint near border with Syria, the Jordanian army was quoted as saying by the state television.
It branded the bombing a “cowardly terrorist attack”.
Visiting military leadership in the wake of the attack, Abdullah vowed that Jordan would “strike with an iron fist anyone who attacks or attempts to harm its security and borders”.
United Nations agencies responsible for the well-being of thousands of refugees did not comment on the drastic move which Western aid workers said penalized thousands of refugees, nearly half of them women and children who have been stranded on the border strip for months.
Jordan is part of the USA -led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.
No militant group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
A few dozen are allowed through every day.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said that Jordan has always warned of the increased number of Syrian refugees on the borders.
In the wake of a suicide vehicle bombing on the Jordanian border with Syria, Judeh appeared on CNN with Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday and said, “This is the first attack of its kind on our borders”.
Jordan now hosts more than 650,000 Syrian refugees registered by the UN Refugee Agency.
But Jordan, which has already accepted more than 600,000 UN-registered refugees, has resisted, arguing that IS militants may have infiltrated the refugees’ ranks.
It is not yet clear who carried out the assault, but the Daesh group has threatened in the past to “break down” Jordan’s borders.
A Ruqban resident said he saw a pickup truck crashing through a Jordanian border gate.
“At the same time we stress the urgent need for the consolidation of broad global efforts in resisting terrorist challenges coming from the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda and related extremist groups, wherever they may operate”, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
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Jordan has also widened a crackdown on ISIL sympathisers at home, jailing hundreds in the past two years for promoting the group’s ideas on social media.
