Border guards kill infiltrator on Syria border

AMMAN — The border guards on Monday killed a man and wounded three others as they tried to illegally enter the Kingdom from Syria, the army said in a statement.

The incident is the latest in escalating clashes along the border between Jordan’s security forces and groups attempting to illegally cross from Syria.

“Four people attempted at dawn to infiltrate Jordan from Syria. Border guards clashed with them, killing a man and wounding the others, who have now been hospitalised,” the brief army statement said.

The incident comes after Jordanian troops clashed Saturday with a group of 10 people as they attempted to cross from Syria, wounding seven of them and arresting three.

Jordan says smuggling across the border with Syria has risen by 300 per cent in the past year and that hundreds of trafficking attempts have been foiled.

The Kingdom is currently home to more than 600,000 Syrian refugees, most of them living in local communities  in the north and two refugee camps near Mafraq and Azraq in the northeast.