Jordanian soldiers killed in car bomb on Syrian border

A car bomb attack that took place outside a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan killed six soldiers on Tuesday, a military statement said.

Four of the six soldiers who were killed were border guards, while two were personnel from the Civil Defence and Public Security Department.

The attack also wounded fourteen soldiers, a security official told Agence France Presse.

The attack took place in a desolate desert area where hundreds of people have been held for screening over suspected links to the DAESH terrorist group.

The Jordanian army stated that the bomb hit at 5:30 am (0230 GMT) in Rukban, on the Syrian border, in the far northeast of the country.

This is the only area where Jordan continues to receive Syrian refugees, about 50,000 of whom are stranded in Rukban refugee camp which is in a remote desert area about 330 km (200 miles) northeast of Amman.

The army said it destroyed a number of ‘'enemy'' vehicles at the border, and that it would give further details later in the day.

A security official said that this was the ‘'preliminary toll'' and that the number of dead may soon increase.

A number of other vehicles were destroyed in the bombing.

Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh condemned the attack, saying it was a ‘'cowardly'' act.

"This evil will be defeated," Judeh tweeted on his official account.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing, however, Jordan is a part of the US-led coalition against DAESH in neighbouring Syria and Iraq and has carried out air strikes against members of the terrorist group in Syria.

DAESH in the past has also threatened to ‘'break down'' Jordan's borders.

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

In a similar attack earlier this month, Jordanian intelligence service officers and two other employees were killed in a Palestinian refugee camp near the capital, Amman. The government considered this to be a terrorist attack.

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

Thousands of Syrian refugees have taken shelter at two desert camps in the northeast of Jordan. One in Rukban, and the other in Handalat.