Page 9 - ARUBA TODAY

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WORLD NEWS Monday 13 august 2018

4 Jordanian troops, 3 suspected militants dead in clash

By OMAR AKOUR woman Jumana Ghunei-
Associated Press mat said three members
SALT, Jordan (AP) — Jorda- of the security forces were
nian search teams pulled killed. She said Sunday that
the bodies of three sus- a fourth officer had died
pected militants from the and that the bodies of
rubble of their hideout, a three suspects were pulled
government official said from the rubble. Five sus-
Sunday, hours after assail- pects are in custody.
ants opened fire and set off The Hala Akhbar news
explosions that killed four website, linked to Jordan’s
members of the security military, said the suspects
forces trying to storm the are Jordanians and that
building. the cell had planned to at-
The clash late Saturday tack security installations
was among the deadliest and other sensitive targets.
between suspected mili- The site said the suspects
tants and Jordanian secu- had been armed with ex-
rity forces in recent years. It plosives, grenades and
raised new concerns about other weapons.
attempts by domestic and In June 2016, a cross-bor-
foreign militants to carry Jordanian forces secure the area Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018, after the side of a building collapsed der car bombing launched
out attacks and destabilize when assailants opened fire and set off explosions late Saturday that killed four members of the from Syria killed seven Jor-
the pro-Western kingdom. security forces in Salt, west of the capital of Amman. danian border guards. In
Jordan has played a key Associated Press December 2016, a shoot-
role in an international mili- Fuheis, west of the capital, suspected Islamic militants suspects in the Fuheis at- out at a crusader castle in
tary coalition that helped Amman. The blast killed a in recent years, but a se- tack zeroed in on a multi- the southern town of Karak
push back the extrem- police officer. ries of fatal attacks, includ- story building in the nearby left 14 people dead, in-
ist group Islamic State in King Abdullah II on Sunday ing on security installations, town of Salt on Saturday cluding seven members of
neighboring Syria and Iraq. denounced the “cowardly have highlighted Jordan’s and attempted to storm the security forces, four mili-
The chain of events in Jor- act of terrorism” and said continued vulnerability. it. The suspects holed up tants and three civilians.
dan began Friday when Jordan would respond with Jordanian authorities did inside opened fire and set Jordan is considered an im-
assailants detonated a “force and determination not say Sunday what moti- off powerful explosions, of- portant security ally, partic-
homemade bomb under a to eradicate terrorism and vated the Fuheis attackers, ficials said. A wing of the ularly by the United States
police car guarding a mu- its criminal gangs.” and there was no claim of building collapsed. and Israel, which view any
sic festival in the predomi- The kingdom’s security forc- responsibility. In initial statements late Sat- signs of unrest there with
nantly Christian town of es have cracked down on Security forces chasing the urday, government spokes- concern.q