AMMAN — At least seven people were killed and 27 others wounded when gunmen opened fire on a funeral in central Jordan on Friday, authorities said.
Director of Jordan’s Public Security Directorate Obaidullah Al-Maaytah told a press conference on Friday that seven people are confirmed dead after the assault on a Greek Orthodox Church in the village of Hamoud in Karak governorate.
The search for the gunmen is ongoing, Al-Maaytah added, pledging that “the perpetrators will be caught and our national unity will not be hit”.
The unidentified gunmen are reported to have arrived in a car, entered the church and opened fire before fleeing, in what government spokesperson Dr Al-Momani Mohammad described as a “heinous attack”.
Survivors said they heard an explosion when the funeral procession started, after which masked attackers broke into the church and began shooting for several minutes.
State-owned television station Al-Mamlaka reported that security forces were deployed to the church and were pursuing two suspects, who got out of a vehicle and opened fire.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II said the authorities would “confront the terrorist act that targeted Karak with the harshest penalties.”
Dozens of people had been inside the church for the funeral when the shooting began, Khaled Burqan, one of the mourners, told Al-Mamlaka.
He said two attackers armed with a rifle and a pistol had been firing at the mourners for several minutes.
CCTV footage, verified by the BBC, appears to show three gunmen making their way from a road toward the church.
Two of the attackers are seen making their way onto what appears to be a vehicle entrance to the church grounds, before retreating briefly and returning with a third man. All three appear to be armed with handguns.
Separate footage believed to be from the aftermath of the attack appears to show several dead and wounded bodies on the ground amid some chaotic scenes.
No one has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
A news briefing by interior ministry officials is expected shortly, and al-Momani has said the country’s prime minister will chair a meeting of the Security Council to be attended by all ministers.
In his post on X, King Abdullah II offered his condolences to the families of the victims, writing: “Whoever imagines that the bullets of treachery can divide the ranks of Jordanians will fail in his endeavour before our steadfastness and unity.”
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, a Christian head of state, said the “heinous terrorist attack” on the church “violated the sanctity of death and funeral mourners, contradicts all religious and humanitarian values,” according to Lebanese media.
Karak has a sizeable Christian community in the majority-Muslim Jordan.
Such violence is rare in Jordan, but deadly attacks have been carried out in the country in the past.
Source: Saudi Gazette