Car bomb kills six Jordanian troops on Syria border

The bomb detonated early in the morning near an informal border crossing between the two countries, a source has told The New Arab.

The attack came in the remote desert in the kingdom's north-east, where tens of thousands of Syrian refugees have sought shelter in a makeshift camp.

"At 5:30am [0230GMT] a car bomb exploded in the Rukban district opposite the Syrian refugee camp," the army said in a statement. A "booby-trapped car attacked the berm, killing and wounding a number of border guards."

The army destroyed several other vehicles involved in the attack but said it would give no further details until later in the day.

No militant group has yet claimed responsibility.

Last month, Jordan saw a fresh influx of refugees sparked by a flare-up in the five-year civil war in Syria - with nearly 5,500 arriving at Rukban in just a few days in early May.

Jordan says it hosting nearly 1.4 million refugees, of whom 630,000 are registered with the UN.

Jordanian authorities have kept hundreds of refugees camped in no-man's land outside Rukban waiting for screening, out of fear that they may be involved with the Islamic State group, which controls swathes of eastern Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

Jordan is a leading member of the US-led coalition fighting IS, and has been the target of extremist attacks in the past.

Agencies contributed to this report.