Pentagon says those killed were part of special forces based in Kentucky as Jordanian sources offer conflicting accounts of incident

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The defense department on Sunday identified three US army trainers who were killed on Friday when their convoy came under fire as it entered a military base in Jordan.

Three members of US military killed in Jordan army base shooting Read more

The Pentagon said the three were members part of an army special forces group based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

In a statement, it identified the dead soldiers as staff sergeants Matthew C Lewellen, 27, of Lawrence, Kansas; Kevin J McEnroe, 30, of Tucson, Arizona; and James F Moriarty, 27, of Kerrville, Texas.

Details of the deadly incident – which was unusual given the close political and military ties between Washington and Amman – remain under investigation.

A Jordanian military source told Reuters the US trainers were fired on by Jordanian security forces when they failed to stop at the gate of Prince Faisal air base in the south of the country.

Other Jordanian sources, however, said they could not rule out political motives in the incident.

Hundreds of Jordanians have fought alongside Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria and several thousand more support the extremist group in the kingdom.

In November 2015, a Jordanian police captain opened fire in an international police training facility, killing two Americans and three others. The government portrayed the police captain as troubled. Others suggested the motivation was related to Isis.