Biden vows US 'shall respond' after troops killed in Jordan

WASHINGTON - A drone attack on a base in Jordan killed three American troops and wounded more than 30 on Sunday, with President Joe Biden blaming Iran-backed militants and vowing to hold the perpetrators to account.

It is the first time American military personnel have been killed by hostile fire in the Middle East since the war between Israel and Iran-backed Hamas began, and the incident will further raise tensions in the region and add to fears of a broader conflict directly involving Tehran.

"While we are still gathering the facts of this attack, we know it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq," Biden said in a statement, pledging to hold "all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing."

Later in the day at a South Carolina church banquet hall, the president held a moment of silence for the US troops killed in the attack, then said: "We shall respond."

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called the attack "a message to the American administration that unless the killing of innocent people in Gaza stops, it may be faced with the entire (Muslim) nation."

"The continuation of the American-Zionist aggression on Gaza risks a regional explosion," Abu Zuhri said.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Sunday evening that the attack had hit a logistics support base located at Tower 22, in northeast Jordan, and that it wounded at least 34 service members, eight of whom required evacuation from the country.

There are around 350 US Army and Air Force personnel at the base who conduct "a number of key support functions," including for the international coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group, CENTCOM said.

Jordan's government spokesman Muhannad Mubaidin, after initially claiming the attack took place in neighboring Syria, later said it "targeted an advanced position on the border with Syria."

Mubaidin condemned the attack, as did Bahrain, Egypt and Britain, whose Foreign Secretary David Cameron called on Iran to "de-escalate in the region."