Several killed, dozens wounded in Jordan church shooting

At least seven people have been killed and 34 others wounded in a church shooting in Jordan, authorities said Friday. The unidentified assailants allegedly attacked the Greek Orthodox church during a funeral in the Karak directorate in the central part of the country.

Seven people were killed and 34 injured on Friday when gunmen opened fire during a funeral at a church in Jordan’s Karak governorate, the head of the country’s Public Security Directorate told reporters, in a rare attack on the country’s Christian minority.

Speaking at a press conference in Karak, Major General Abdallah al-Maaytah said most of those wounded in the shooting at the Hamoud Church in Karak were still receiving treatment, and that the hunt for the attackers was ongoing.

Interior Minister Mazin Al Farrayeh said the attack had been carried out by “extremists”, but that it was too early to tell whether they had any links to known groups either inside or outside Jordan.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

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A video aired on Jordan’s state-owned Al-Mamlaka television station that appeared to be from a security camera mounted on the church showed three people firing at it from a sidewalk and hiding behind trees and a low wall. The video showed the attackers then running towards the church’s entrance.

Khaled Burqan, who was at the funeral, told Al-Mamlaka that dozens of people were present and that the gunmen opened fire on them for several minutes.

Ihab Ammareen, another witness, told the station that he saw bloodied people collapse on the floor after the attack. “People were crying, wailing, screaming – it’s hard to describe,” he told the station.

King Abdullah II said on X that Jordan “will confront the terrorist act that targeted Karak with the harshest penalties” and offered his “deepest condolences to the families of the martyrs, and our wishes for recovery to the wounded”.

In 2016, gunmen ambushed police in a series of attacks in Karak, including at a Crusader castle popular with tourists, killing 10 people, including seven officers, and wounding dozens. Jordanian security forces killed the gunmen after a long standoff.

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AP)