Jordan repels motorbike attack along Syria border

Jordanian border guards clashed with militants who tried to attack their positions along the border with Syria on Saturday, killing the gunmen and destroying three motorbikes they were riding, the Jordanian state news agency Petra reported.

One border guard suffered a hand injury, the army said in a statement.

The Petra report did not say how many militants had been killed in the attack near the Rukban camp for displaced Syrians, where the Islamic State (IS) group claimed a car bomb attack in May and has also clashed with Syrian rebel groups that operate in the area.

Last June, a suicide bombing claimed by IS killed seven soldiers in a no-man's land near the Rukban crossing with Syria. Soon after the attack, the army declared Jordan's desert regions that stretch northeast to Syria and east to Iraq "closed military zones".

Closing the border with Syria stranded tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the conflict in their country.

Rukban is located in a sparsely populated area near the intersection of the borders of Syria, Iraq and Jordan.

The United Nations says 60,000 Syrians are trapped in a makeshift settlement in the no man's land, and it has set up a clinic just inside Jordan to care for them.

Jordan is part of the US-led coalition fighting IS.