Car bomb hits Syrian refugee camp on Jordan border

At least three people were killed, including a child, and several others were injured in a car bomb attack and subsequent shooting at a security checkpoint in al-Rukban refugee camp on Saturday evening.

Local sources told The New Arab that a car bomb had targeted a Free Syria Army checkpoint at the refugee camp on the Syrian border with Jordan, killing two FSA fighters and injuring several others, including civilians.

Jordanian border police responded by opening fire on the attacking vehicle killing a child, according to the sources.

“The camp’s health clinic is filled with people who were injured by the car bomb’s shrapnel,” local sources said, adding the death toll is likely to rise due to the seriousness of some injuries and lack of adequate medical care at the camp.

A car bomb in January killed at least seven people were killed at the same camp.

Around 85,000 people live in the Rukban camp including both internally displaced people and rebel groups fighting against both the Damascus regime and the Islamic State group. 

It was targeted by a number of bombings last year, including an October 16 attack claimed by IS that targeted a checkpoint run by a rebel faction operating under the umbrella of the Free Syrian Army. 

An earlier car bomb attack near the camp, in the hinterland border area on June 21 last year that resulted in the deaths of six Jordanian military personnel. 

Jordanian authorities said after the attack that the perpetrator had set off from the Rukban camp and consequently announced the closure of its border to Syrian refugees, leaving thousands stranded among growing humanitarian concerns expressed by international aid organisations.

The Rukban camp lies along an ostensibly demilitarised berm between Jordan and Syria regarded as a no-mans land.