Deadly explosion strikes refugee camp on Syrian-Jordanian border

A car bomb struck a market in the Rukban camp for internally displaced people in south-east Syria close to the country’s border with Jordan, according to reports from local activists on Saturday. 

At least seven civilians were killed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Dozens were also injured in the attack, the majority women and children, according to Amr Nabiye, a member of the Palmyra Tribal Council’s media office. 

Images displayed on the pro-opposition council’s Facebook page, purporting to show the aftermath of the deadly blast, depict lifeless bodies covered in bloodstained shrouds, appealing for assistance in order to secure treatment of the wounded.

Jordan’s official news agency Petra, in agreement with activists reports, said that the explosion occurred on the Syrian side of the border. 

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.