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Jordan says intelligence officers killed in refugee camp attack Jordan says intelligence officers killed in refugee camp attack
(35 minutes later)
Five people have been killed in an attack on Jordanian intelligence officers at a Palestinian refugee camp, government officials said. Five people have been killed in an attack on an office of Jordan’s intelligence services at a refugee camp near the capital, Amman.
The government described the incident near the capital, Amman, as a “terror attack” and said it targeted a General Intelligence Department office in the Baqa’a camp at 7am (4am GMT) on Monday, which is the first day of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. The incident, rare in Jordan, was confirmed by the country’s minister of media affairs, Mohammed al-Momani, who said it took place at an office in the Baqa’a refugee camp just before 7am (4am GMT) on Monday morning.
Officials said three intelligence officers were killed, along with a guard and a receptionist at the office. He gave no details of the attack but said it was carried out by those with the “criminal behaviour of people who are outside of our religion”.
Such attacks are rare in pro-western Jordan, which is a key member of the US-led military coalition fighting Islamic State extremists in neighbouring Syria and Iraq. Three intelligence officers, a guard and a receptionist were killed, Momani said.
Earlier this year several Isis sympathisers were killed in a shootout during a large security operation mounted in the northern city of Irbid. A former Jordanian minister of information, Samih al-Maaytah, told the Al Arabiya news channel: “This attack was obviously deliberate. Whoever is responsible [wanted to show] that they are present in Jordan and are capable of carrying attacks.”
Baqa’a is the largest refugee camp in Jordan, housing more than 70,000 people. A large percentage of the country’s 7 million population are descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled in the aftermath of the creation of Israel in 1948. Baqa’a camp – home to around 100,000 people – is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan and was set up in 1968 after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
This is a breaking news story; please check back for further updates Earlier this year a large security operation was mounted in the northern city of Irbid in which several Islamic State sympathisers were killed in a shoot-out.
Momani also told Hala Akbar, an army radio station, that the attack on the first day of Ramadan represents a clear deviation from the Islamic faith.
He said Jordanians stood together in confronting attempts to harm their security forces and that these attacks would only increase the cohesion of Jordanians in fighting “evil forces”.
Jordan has carried out airstrikes against Isis in both Iraq and Syria.
One of its pilots was captured by the extremists when his plane went down in Syria in December 2014. Isis later released gruesome footage of him being burned alive.
Jordan has also opened up the Prince Hassan airbase, north-east of the capital, to other members of the US-led coalition taking part in the air war.
In March, Jordanian authorities announced they had foiled an Isis plot to carry out attacks in the kingdom in an operation that led to the deaths of seven extremists.