BEIRUT -- An explosion rocked a camp for displaced Syrians along the Syrian-Jordanian border Saturday, killing at least six people and wounding many others, opposition activists said.
The explosion near the border came despite the Dec. 30 cease-fire, sponsored by Russia and Turkey, who back opposite sides of the conflict. Syria continues to be beset by violence, including clashes between government forces and rebel fighters as well as a number of offensives against Islamic State militants in the country.
Talks between government officials and rebel representatives and attended by Russian, Turkish and U.N. officials are scheduled for Monday in the Kazakh capital, Astana, to discuss reinforcing the cease-fire and ensuring humanitarian access.
President Donald Trump's administration will not send a delegation to this week's Syrian peace talks, sponsored by Russia, Turkey and Iran, because of the "immediate demands of the transition," the State Department said Saturday, and the U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan was expected to attend as an observer.
Some rebel factions have agreed to send representatives, but militant group Jabhat Fatah al-Sham slammed the talks Saturday as a conspiracy.
Jabhat Fatah al-Sham said other rebel factions had been pressured by their foreign patrons to attend and that the end result would be to drive a wedge between Syria's insurgents. Rivalries have plagued Syria's insurgents. Infighting as well as splits and failed mergers have been reported in recent weeks -- further weakening their ranks.
"Negotiations in Astana about the fate of the country and its people are not the right of one side," the group said in a statement. "Those who risk the battlefield and bypass must realize the consequences in the future."
In the explosion at the camp near the Jordanian border, Mohammed Hassan al-Homsi, an opposition activist with the Palmyra News Network, said a small truck carrying blankets was detonated from afar, killing at least six civilians at the Rukban camp, including a man, his wife and two children.
Badr Abu Sultan, a resident of the Rukban camp, said the explosion occurred outside the local market.
"There was a powerful explosion at the beginning of the market," said Abu Sultan, a member of a tribal council in the camp.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the explosion caused a cloud of smoke over the area. A video posted by the Syrian Media Organization also showed some tents burning, as parts of the car bomb were scattered across the camp. The Observatory, which has a network of activists on the ground, put the death toll at 11, including the family of four, and four militiamen. Another opposition activist network, the Palmyra Coordination group, said the explosion hit a checkpoint for a local militia near the market.
The camp houses a militia targeted in the past by rival factions in Syria's war.
A Jordanian military official ruled out that any Jordanian was hurt in the explosion inside Syrian territory. He told the official Jordanian Petra news agency that 14 wounded people were admitted to the Jordanian health center at the border used to treat Syrians.
Meanwhile Saturday, the Russian military said six of its long-range bombers struck Islamic State positions in Deir el-Zour in eastern Syria. The raid came as Syrian government troops in Deir el-Zour found their numbers cut in half in an ongoing Islamic State offensive against the last remaining pockets of government control.
The extremist group controls most of the province, except for the provincial capital and a nearby air base, and the offensive that began earlier this month is described as the group's most intense in a year.
The Russian Defense Ministry said six Tu-22M3 bombers flew from their base in Russia to strike Islamic State facilities in Deir el-Zour province Saturday. It said they successfully hit all designated targets, including the militants' camps, weapons locations and ammunition depots.
Activists in Deir el-Zour said civilians were fleeing amid intense shelling from Russian, Syrian and coalition jets and fighting on the ground.
Russian fighter jets from Hemeimeem air base in Syria's coastal province of Latakia provided cover for the bombers, according to the ministry.
Russia has conducted an air campaign in Syria since September 2015, helping Syrian government forces to reverse the tide of the nearly six-year conflict.
Information for this article was contributed by Dominique Soguel, Maamoun Youssef and Vladimir Isachenkov of The Associated Press.
A Section on 01/22/2017