Footage broadcast on state TV shows three attackers approaching Greek Orthodox church and firing shots
Nine people have been killed after gunmen opened fire at a funeral at a church in Jordan in a rare attack on the country’s Christian minority.
Authorities described the attack on Friday as a terrorist act by extremists.
Maj gen Abdallah al-Maaytah, the head of Jordan’s Public Security Directorate, said most of those injured in the shooting at St George’s Greek Orthodox church in Hamoud, in Karak governorate, were receiving treatment, and that the hunt for the attackers was continuing. Jordan’s health minister said 40 people were injured.
The interior minister, Mazin Al Farrayeh, said the attack had been carried out by “extremists”, but it was too early to tell whether they had any links to known groups inside or outside Jordan.
Such attacks are rare in Jordan, which is relatively stable, though authorities in the US say in recent years they have repeatedly foiled attempted attacks by Islamist militants.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
A video, aired on Jordan’s state-owned Al-Mamlaka television station that appeared to be from a security camera on the church, showed three people firing at it from a pavement and hiding behind trees and a low wall. It then showed the attackers running towards the church’s entrance. Reuters was able to verify the video from the entry path and wall surrounding the church, as well as other details.
In a post on X, Jordan’s prime minister, Jafar Hassan, said: “This is a result of a terrorist ideology and blind extremism and we will not allow society to go down this path.”
A priest described how he and others ordered people to get to the ground at the church. “A sense of panic took hold among those present,” Theodoros Soueiss said. “The gunfire was indiscriminate, and you never knew where a bullet might land.”
Khaled Burqan, who was at the funeral, told Al-Mamlaka that dozens of people were present and the gunmen opened fire on them for several minutes.
Ihab Ammareen, another witness, told the station he saw bloodied people collapse on the floor after the attack. “People were crying, wailing, screaming – it’s hard to describe,” he said.
Jordan’s King Abdullah, a leading US partner in the fight against militant Islamist groups, visited Karak hours after the attack and said the perpetrators would be punished “with an iron fist”.
“The terrorist attack against Karak will be met with the harshest retaliation. Those who delude themselves into thinking they can divide Jordanians with their bullets have no chance in the face of our unity,” he said in a statement.
Reuters footage from the church after the attack showed blood smeared on the floor near its entrance, where security forces were deployed.
Security has been stepped up at malls, foreign embassies and other locations across Jordan, the US embassy in Amman said on Saturday.
In a post on X, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, condemned the violence and said attacks against civilians and places of worship were unacceptable.
People who gathered at a Karak government hospital to support the injured expressed shock. “What happened today has left people unable to speak or raise our voices. But our only reproach to the state is that it must investigate these dark ideas – where they come from and how they enter the minds of our children,” said Hani Al-Mbaydeen, who was outside the hospital.
Christians make up a minority of Jordan’s population. The country is home to several biblical sites that attract Christian pilgrims from around the world. The US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, described it on X as a “depraved and brutal attack on a house of worship”. Jordan was among the US allies in the region to be hit by Iranian attacks this year after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February.
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Source: www.theguardian.com
