Army clashes with border infiltrators, kills 2

AMMAN — The border guards on Sunday killed two infiltrators, seriously injured a third and detained four people who attempted to cross the border from Syria at 4:30pm.

The infiltrators were aboard a wheeled armoured personnel carrier, according to an official source of the Jordan Armed Forces (JAF), as quoted by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Following an exchange of fire with the group of seven, the army managed to bring the vehicle to a halt, the army source said. 

Seven machine guns and different amounts of ammunition were seized, he added.

Military investigators were questioning the detainees, whereas the injured man and those who were killed were transferred to the nearest field hospital.

Such clashes have become common on the 370km-long Syria border, around 90km from Amman.

Jordanian officials have reiterated that the JAF will respond firmly to such violations and will take all available measures to preserve the security and the safety of the country, its borders and citizens.

Jordan is hosting more than 600,000 Syrian refugees who joined about 700,000 who were already residing in Jordan before the 2011 crisis erupted, according to official figures.