Islamic State claims Jordan suicide bombing

Bombing on the Jordanian border outpost as seen in the Islamic State video

After being suspected of orchestrating a suicide bombing in Jordan near the border with Syria last week, the Islamic State has now officially claimed the attack. The bombing left six Jordanian border guards dead and 14 others wounded near a refugee camp in a remote part of Jordan’s Mafraq Governorate.

In a short statement released by the Islamic State’s ‘Amaq News Agency, the jihadist group said that the “martyrdom attack which hit the joint US-Jordanian Rukban base inside Jordan was carried out by an Islamic State fighter.” In addition to the statement, ‘Amaq released a one-minute video showing the suicide bomber detonating on the remote outpost.

The assault marks the first time that the Islamic State has struck inside Jordanian territory. However, in 2014, the Islamic State attempted to seize the Karameh Border Crossing with Jordan near Trebil, Iraq. The jihadist group briefly held the crossing but Iraqi forces quickly recaptured it a day later. In late November of that year, the jihadists again tried to occupy the crossing but were pushed back after killing six Iraqi troops. (See Threat Matrix report, Islamic State attacks Iraqi border crossing with Jordan.)

Last January, the Islamic State attempted to invade the Arkaban Iraqi military outpost on the border with Jordan in a coordinated attack. Despite the propaganda released by the jihadist group, only three Iraqi border guards were killed and the outpost repelled the offensive. (See Threat Matrix report, Islamic State assaults Iraqi border post near Jordan.)

In 2005, the Islamic State’s predecessor, al Qaeda in Iraq, launched a series of coordinated suicide bombings in Amman, Jordan, which killed over 60 people.

Caleb Weiss is an editor of FDD's Long War Journal and a senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation, where he focuses on the spread of the Islamic State in Central Africa.

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Tags: Islamic State, jordan