Three US army troops and dozen injured in drone strike on Jordan-Syria border

Three US army personnel have been killed, and over 30 injured as a drone strike attacks sleeping Americans, President Joe Biden has confirmed. In a statement he described the attackers as "radical Iran-backed militant groups".

The killings occurred as US troops were sleeping in tents at a place called Tower 22 in northeast Jordan, near the Syrian border. It comes as tensions grow in the Middle East, and are the first US deaths in the region since the beginning of the war in Gaza.

In a statement, President Biden confirmed the attack was performed by an "unmanned aerial drone", and was carried out by Iranian supported "militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq".

The President has also assured that the US "will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing".

This attack came a day after a British destroyer warship shot down an attack drone that is suspected to have come from an Iran-backed militant group in the Middle East. The US also destroyed a Houthi anti-ship missile on Saturday. Another attack drone was shot down by the Royal Navy earlier in January.

The US has around 3,000 troops stationed in Jordan, and have faced attacks in Iraq and Syria with no deaths since the war in Gaza began.

The attack is seen as an 'escalation' in the Middle East and comes after the US and the UK made strikes against targets of Yemen's Houthi groups in the past month. Neither country claim to be at war in the region.

Houthi and other militant groups are targeting ships linked to Israel in the region as part of a campaign to support Palestine during the war in Gaza.