Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Passengers traveling from the southern port city of Aqaba to Amman were robbed by unidentified culprits on Friday when the later ambushed a bus near the city of Ma'an.

The bus driving on the Amman-Aqaba route was intercepted by armed men, who took wallets, mobile phones, watches, and other belongings from passengers on the bus, a bus company official said.

50 passengers were reportedly on the bus when the incident occurred.

General manager of the Jordan Express Tourist Transportation Company (JETT), the transportation company owning the bus, Malik Haddad told Ammon News that the bus is equipped with a camera, adding that the tapes of the incident will be referred to police.

Public Security Cadres began investigating the incident which occurred in the restive city, about 220 kilometers south of Amman, which has witnessed sporadic violence and riots in the past months, including road blockage and protests.

The culprits remain at large as they were unidentified because they had covered their faces during the incident.

JETT decided to reroute its trips to and from Amman-Aqaba to take the western highway through the Dead Sea rather than the main desert highway to avoid similar incidents.