Jordan border guards open fire on three dozen suspected Syrian smugglers after discovering 2 million narcotics pills
- Jordanian border guards opened fire on three dozen infiltrators from Syria
- 12 people killed and several others wounded in the border incident
- Border guards also confiscated more than 2 million narcotics pills
Jordanian border guards opened fire on three dozen suspected infiltrators from Syria, killing 12 and wounding several others.
The border command has said it frequently intercepts smugglers trying to cross into Jordan. Saturday's shooting was the deadliest such incident in the border area in recent memory.
The military's website says border guards confiscated more than 2 million narcotics pills during the incident. It says some of the infiltrators were armed and that several returned to Syria.
Jordanian border guards opened fire on three dozen suspected infiltrators from Syria, killing 12 and wounding several others
Much of Jordan's border with Syria runs through remote desert. The military did not say where along the border the shooting took place.
The eastern part of the border is the main crossing route for Syrian refugees. Some 17,000 are stranded in the border area, awaiting entry to Jordan.
The news comes after US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter reiterated calls for Turkey to bolster its fight against ISIS.
Turkey has been allowing the United States to use Incirlik, a geographically vital air base in the south, to strike ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria.
However Carter said Ankara needs to do more to secure its lengthy border with Syria.
'Turkey is a long-time friend of ours,' he said during a Davos question-and-answer session.
But 'the reality is, it has a porous border for foreign fighters going in both directions. So I think the Turks could do more.'
The border command has said it frequently intercepts smugglers trying to cross into Jordan. Saturday's shooting was the deadliest such incident in the border area in recent memory
Some Arab and Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia are nominally part of the coalition, but are now more focused on fighting Iran-backed forces in Yemen.
The United States has carried out the bulk of the nearly 9,800 air strikes launched in Iraq and Syria since the summer of 2014.
But despite calls for additional help, Carter insists the coalition has the jihadists on a back foot, especially since the recapture of the Iraqi city of Ramadi and the targeting of their financial and illicit oil-selling capabilities.
In the wake of the terror attacks in Paris in November that left 130 dead, France and Britain joined efforts in Syria.
Some of the other nations to have conducted strikes in Iraq or Syria include Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Jordan, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
Dozens more countries, including Iceland, Italy and Panama, have pledged varying degrees of support, for instance through the training of local security forces.
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