EXCLUSIVE – Alarm Bells In Jordan Over Possible Islamic State Onslaught

TEL AVIV – The killing of six Jordanian Border Policemen near the Jordanian-Syrian-Iraqi border on Tuesday was “in all likelihood just the beginning” and a possible Islamic State attack on Jordan, warned an Arab intelligence source speaking to Breitbart Jerusalem.

The troops were killed after several car bombs exploded near their post, eyewitnesses said, in an attack authorities suspect was carried out by the Islamic State or an affiliated group.

Tuesday’s attack didn’t catch the Jordanian authorities by surprise, as they expected IS would try to compensate for setbacks in Iraq and Syria by instigating anarchy in Jordan.

“The authorities are investigating whether the bombers received help on the Jordanian side of the border,” the source said. “There are active jihadi groups in Jordan, and it’s not unlikely they provided the perpetrators with planning and logistical help.”

The source added that interrogations of Jordanian jihadists are already underway to establish the extent of cross-border cooperation.

He also said that the bombing may be connected to the decline in Jordanian support for Syrian opposition groups.

“We have estimated in the past that Jordan would be targeted by jihadists, especially IS, after the blows it received in Iraq and Syria,” he said. “It is still unclear whether Tuesday’s attack is linked to the one at Baqaa refugee camp two weeks ago, but there seems to be an alarming pattern to the attacks on Jordanian soil that could motivate jihadi sleeper cells to join the offensive in order to destabilize the kingdom and turn it into IS’s new stronghold.”

The attack on a state security forces unit in Beqaa earlier this month left three intelligence officers and two civilians dead.

An Arab intelligence source, who is well acquainted with Jordan, told Breitbart Jerusalem at the time that “the main concern is that this attack was a prelude to a string of attacks on Jordanian soil. It has been published that IS threatened to carry out attacks on every member of the international coalition during Ramadan, and it makes sense that the organization will find respite in Jordan after having been delivered blows in Syria and Iraq, as well as having faced an attack on its bases in the Sirte area in Libya.”