Deadly bombing hits Syrian refugee camp on Jordan border

At least five people were killed and ten injured Saturday in a deadly bomb attack on a Syrian refugee camp on the border with Jordan, local sources said.

“An explosion hit an aid distribution centre on the edge of al-Rukban refugee camp, close to a checkpoint manned by the Free Syrian Army’s Jaish Ahrar al-Ashair,” local sources told The New Arab.

The explosion was caused by an improvised explosive device (IED), believed to have been planted by Islamic State group militants, who have previously attacked the camp, according to the sources.

A Jordanian government source said the explosion took place within Syrian territory, far away from Jordan’s border.

A suicide car bomb hit the camp in October resulting in multiple injuries.

Jordanian authorities claim the Rukban camp, which houses over 75,000 Syrian refugees, has been infiltrated by criminals, smugglers and extremists, and a government spokesman even described it as an Islamic State group “enclave”.

The kingdom sealed its border with Syria in June, after a deadly cross-border attack claimed by IS extremists killed seven members of the Jordanian security forces.

This left thousands of Syrians stuck between a war zone and a sealed border, without regular access to food, water and medicine.

Conditions have become increasingly dire, with aid officials reporting the spread of disease, including whooping cough and hepatitis.

Close to 5 million Syrians have fled the civil war in their country since 2011, including nearly 660,000 who settled in Jordan.