AMMAN, Jordan, Nov. 4 (UPI) — Two U.S. military trainers died in a shooting incident Friday near Jordan’s capital of Amman at the entrance of the King Faisal Air Base, Jordanian officials said.
Another U.S. trainer was injured and was receiving medical treatment, reports Petra, a Jordanian state news agency, citing a military source. The Jordanian Embassy in Washington, D.C., confirmed the shooting.
“We have reports of a security incident involving American personnel and we are in contact with Jordanian officials who are giving us all the support,” the U.S. Embassy in Jordan said in a statement, according to BBC News.
A vehicle carrying the trainers failed to stop at the gate of the military base, a Jordanian military source told CBS News, who added that the incident appears to be accidental.
“There was an exchange of fire at the entrance to the base after an attempt by the trainers’ vehicle to enter the gate without heeding orders of the guards to stop,” Jordan’s military said in a statement.
Officials launched an investigation into the incident.
Jordan is a close ally to the United States — also one of the few Arab nations to have joined the United States’ international coalition to fight the Islamic State. The United States, as it does with many allies throughout the world including in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines, provides training to Jordanian security agencies.
In November 2015, two U.S. contractors and one South African were shot to death in a police training center cafeteria in Muwaqqar, Jordan. The victims died when a lone shooter, a Jordanian police officer, opened fire at the center, south of Amman.
