Mine blasts kill farmer, 3 security personnel in Jordan near Israeli border

Security source says investigation underway to clarify if deadly ordnance dates back to conflicts with Jewish state

By AFP 15 February 2019, 8:16 am 0 Edit

File: A Jordanian deminer uses a detector to clear a minefield in the northern Jordanian- Syrian border area, near Ramtha city, June 28, 2011 (AP Photo/Nader Daoud)

AMMAN, Jordan — A Jordanian farmer and three members of the security forces were killed Thursday when two old mines exploded, a security source said.

The first mine went off in a field killing the farmer and the second exploded when security forces came to investigate, killing three of them and wounding seven others, the source said.

Jordan had more than 300,000 landmines laid across its territory, most of them in the Jordan Valley during successive Arab-Israeli wars, but also near the borders with Iraq and Syria.

The blasts occurred in the Salt region, northwest of Amman, which lies near the Jordan Valley and the border with Israel.

Some mines date from the Six-Day War of 1967 and from 1968 when Salt was a key battlefront where artillery units were deployed to thwart an Israeli attack on Palestinian fighters in the Jordan Valley village of Al-Karameh.

The security source on Thursday did not confirm that the deadly mines dated to wars with Israel but said an investigation was underway.

A view of the minefields outside the Qaser al-Yahud Baptism Site in the Judean Desert on the border with the Jordan River on the Eastern Orthodox holiday of Epiphany on January 18, 2019. (Amanda Borschel-Dan/Times of Israel)

Over the years Jordan has sought to clear its territory of mines, allowing farmers to reclaim land.

Last year, Israeli and international experts began clearing thousands of wartime landmines and explosive devices from the West Bank, in an area where some people believe Jesus was baptized.

Israeli military officials said those mines dated from the Six-Day war.