"We've had reports this morning of explosions in the vicinity of Syria's Abu Kamal border crossing which lies along the Euphrates River," Peter Kessler told reporters.

"The explosions reportedly took place about a kilometer (0.62 miles) inside Iraq, about three kilometers (1.86 miles) from the transit site," he said during a daily press briefing of UN aid agencies operating in Jordan.

Kessler, who did not give further details, said the UNHCR immediately asked the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to move three Iraqi nationals who had arrived in the transit area the previous day.

The IOM is in charge of transporting refugees arriving in countries bordering Iraq to temporary camps.

SPACE.WIRE