Intelligence officers among five killed at Jordanian refugee camp

AMMAN, Jordan, June 6 (UPI) -- Five people, including three intelligence officers, died Monday in an attack in a refugee camp near Amman, Jordan, in what the government has described as a terrorist attack.

The incident occurred in an intelligence office in the Baqaa refugee camp on the outskirts of the capital, where nearly 100,000 refugees are housed. The camp, referred to by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency as the largest of Jordan's six refugees camps, was established in 1968 as a place for Palestinians seeking refuge from the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

The attack took place on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in a country which is a vital U.S. ally in the region. Jordan is also a participant in the U.S.-led coalition attacking Islamic State positions in Syria and Iraq with airstrikes, and has largely avoided the internal violence plaguing nearby Arab countries.

The other two victims of the assault were employed by the intelligence service. The government offered no information on the method of the attack.

No group has come forward to claims responsibility for the attack. The Jordanian government convened an early morning meeting Monday in response to the attack, and a government spokesman, Mohammad Momani, said the attackers "strayed away from religion and spilled blood of those who dedicated themselves to protect the country."