ISIS claims Iraqi-Jordanian border crossing attack
25-04-2015 08:07 PM
Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed an attack Saturday by French, Belgian and Senegalese suicide bombers on the Iraq-Jordan border that officials said killed at least four Iraqi security personnel.
The group claimed the assault in a statement posted online, saying the bombers were from France, Belgium and Senegal, according to Agence France Presse.
It said the bombers targeted the main checkpoint at the crossing, a mess hall and sleeping quarters for security personnel, and an army patrol.
The bombers detonated explosives-rigged vehicles, one of them a lorry, at checkpoints on the Iraqi side of the Turaibil crossing, said Sabah Karhout, the head of the Anbar province council.
He put the toll at four dead and eight wounded.
The deputy head of the crossing, Khaled Alwan, and army Colonel Jabr Khailan, both confirmed the attack but gave higher tolls.
Security measures
Meanwhile, a Jordanian official said his government had responded by stepping up security measures at the Tureibil crossing, while an Iraqi defence ministry spokesman said Baghdad would investigate the assault, according to Reuters news agency.
Iraqi security forces control parts of territory in Anbar, a vast desert province that stretches from the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to the western approaches to Baghdad.
But much of the province is held by ISIS, which spearheaded an offensive last June that overran swathes of territory north and west of the Iraqi capital.
*Agencies