Lt. Col. Mohammed Khatib says Iraq's Science and Technology Minister Raed Fahmi and 27 others were also injured in the accident, which occurred late on Thursday near a tourist site close to the Dead Sea.

Khatib said on Friday that the Iraqi minister's injuries were slight and that he is in stable condition in an Amman hospital.

He declined to provide the names of those killed in the accident.

He says their bus overturned as it drove along a narrow road in a hilly area overlooking the Dead Sea.

The British Embassy in Amman confirmed the deaths, but declined to give other details.