AMMAN – Borders Guards early Thursday engaged and killed 27 drug smugglers after they tried to infiltrate the border from Syria under the cover of snow.

 

 

A Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army said the smugglers were backed up by armed groups, adding some of the smugglers were injured and fled back to Syrian territory.

 

Troops combed the areas where the incidents took place and found large quantities of narcotics, the army said, indicating that the search was still underway.

 

The army statement said the encounters with the smugglers occurred simultaneously on different fronts on the border with Syria.

 

The army said it will continue to apply recently-introduced new rules of engagement and will strike with "an iron fist" any smuggling or infiltration attempt targeting national security.