Jordan under threat from Isis: US and UK warn against travel in wake of recent terror shootings

The US State Department has issued a travel warning for Jordan due to "threats from terrorist groups" after a number of attacks claimed by Islamic State (Isis).

The terror group was responsible for an attack at Karak, 80 miles (130km) south of capital Amman, on 18 December, in which 10 people – including a Canadian tourist – were killed.

It was followed by a shootout two days later when Jordanian security forces tried to track down the militants, which led to 5 officers being killed.

A spokesman for the State Department, using an alternative acronym for IS (Daesh), warned US citizens of travelling to Jordan and to consider the risks of travel to and throughout the country.

"Terrorist organizations, including the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), its affiliates, and sympathizers, have successfully conducted attacks in Jordan and continue to plot assaults in the country," the spokesman said.

"Jordan's prominent role in the counter-ISIL Coalition and its shared borders with Iraq and Syria increase the potential for future terrorist incidents."

The British Foreign Office issued a similar warning stating that "indiscriminate" terrorist attacks are highly likely by groups using kidnap as a tactic. "Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners particularly hotels, shopping malls, tourist sites or locations marking Christmas and New Year festivities," said the Foreign Office.

Jordan is one of 66 countries taking part in the US-led coalition against IS in Iraq and Syria. However, its role is more prominent than most with a number of US and British F16s stationed in the country. Iraqi officers and special forces are also trained in Nato bases in Jordan.

Many Jordanians oppose the country's involvement in the coalition, saying it has led to the killing of fellow Muslims and raised unnecessary security threats. That sentiment reached all-time high when Jordanian pilot Maaz Yusuf al-Kasasbeh was captured by IS militants, after his plane was shot down in Raqqa, Syria.

He was then brutally burned alive in a cage in a video which horrified the globe. Similar sentiments opposing Jordan's participation in coalition attacks have been expressed in the wake of the recent attacks.

The US State Department has also issued a similar travel warning for Egypt. The warning covered the Western Desert and the Sinai Peninsula, outside the Sharm el-Sheikh beach resort.