6 Jordanian troops killed, 14 wounded in car bomb attack

Blast hits near tent encampment where tens of thousands of Syrian refugees are stranded

By AP 21 June 2016, 11:12 am

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A Syrian refugee woman pushes a stroller at the Zaatari refugee camp, near the Jordanian border with Syria, on March 8, 2014. (AFP/Khalil Mazraawi)

AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan’s military says that six people were killed and 14 wounded in a car bomb attack on Jordanian troops along the kingdom’s border with Syria.

The attack took place early on Tuesday near a makeshift camp for tens of thousands of Syrian refugees who are stranded in the desert, awaiting entry to Jordan.

No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The camp, known as Ruqban, is one of two that have sprung up along an earthen barrier, or berm, which runs along the border in a remote desert area.

A booby-trapped car exploded at the berm, “killing and wounding a number of border guards,” the military said in a statement.

It said several other “hostile” vehicles were destroyed, but did not give further details.

The extremist group Islamic State controls large areas in neighboring Syria and Iraq, and Jordan has fortified border defenses to prevent attacks and infiltration attempts.

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.

The kingdom is a member of the US-led international military coalition against IS.