Six killed in attack near Jordan border

Jordan declared the desert border regions with Syria and Iraq “military zones” barred to civilians after a suicide bomber killed six Jordanian soldiers near the Syrian frontier on Tuesday.

The displaced Syrians stranded along Jordan’s northeastern border would, once they are let in, go to Jordanian camps that are already home to around 120,000 refugees from Syria.

A number of Jordanian border guards were killed in a vehicle bomb attack near border with war-torn Syria on Tuesday.

The military said it had destroyed several “enemy” vehicles at the border, without elaborating. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Jordan’s economy is forecast to grow around 2.7 per cent in 2016, less than the 3.5 per cent previously forecast, due to the crises in neighbouring Iraq and Syria, the country’s Finance Minister Omar Malhas said in April. Jordan says it must carry out a detailed screening process before admitting them.

He said Jordan chose to “close that crossing area and consider this area a closed military zone”.

The country been the target of major jihadist attacks in the past.

“Such criminal act will only add to our unshaken determination to fight terrorism and terrorists’ ideologies regardless of their motives”, the statement confirmed.

In recent weeks, the pace of admissions increased slightly, as part of Jordan’s promise to the United States to let in at least 20,000 Syrians.

On June 6, five people were killed when gunmen attacked a post of the intelligence services north of the capital Amman.

A suspect was arrested over the attack, however, the details are under a gag order as the investigation progresses.

The attack took place at Ruqban, a spartan holding camp in no man’s land where tens of thousands of Syrian…

Jordan’s refusal to allow the refugees to move further inside its territory has been criticised by the office of the United Nations high commissioner for refugees.

UNHCR representative Andrew Harper said he was not aware of any Syrian asylum-seekers being hurt in Tuesday’s attack. It says Islamic State militants may have infiltrated their ranks as a lot of them come from Islamic State-held areas in central and eastern Syria, and has allowed only a trickle of refugees, mostly women and children, in recent months.

Jordan, a key US ally in the region, has foiled many border infiltration attempts and terror plots in recent years, including a thwarted ISIS plot in March that officials said was aimed at military and civilian installations.