Jafar Hassan Orders Sweep After Karak Church Massacre
Nine people died and forty were wounded when three gunmen opened fire at a Greek Orthodox funeral in Jordan on Friday.
By Daniel Rogers ·
Three men opened fire on a funeral crowd at St George's Greek Orthodox church in Hamoud, Jordan, on Friday, killing nine people and wounding forty others. The attack targeted the country's Christian minority, a group that constitutes a small portion of the population in a region marked by stability.
Maj gen Abdallah al-Maaytah, who heads the Public Security Directorate, stated that the search for the attackers was ongoing. Most of the injured were receiving medical treatment. Health officials confirmed the total number of wounded at forty. Interior minister Mazin Al Farrayeh identified the perpetrators as extremists but noted that it was too early to determine if they had links to known groups inside or outside the country. No group has formally claimed responsibility for the shooting.
Video from a security camera at the church, verified by Reuters, showed the three gunmen firing from a pavement. They used trees and a low wall for cover before running toward the building entrance. Witness accounts described a scene of chaos. Priest Theodoros Soueiss said the gunfire was indiscriminate and that panic spread quickly among the attendees. Khaled Burqan, a funeral attendee, reported that the shooting lasted for several minutes. Another witness, Ihab Ammareen, described seeing bloodied individuals collapse on the floor while others screamed.
Prime minister Jafar Hassan posted on X that the attack resulted from terrorist ideology and blind extremism. He vowed that society would not follow that path. King Abdullah visited the Karak governorate within hours of the incident. He promised to punish the perpetrators with an iron fist and said that those trying to divide Jordanians with bullets had no chance against national unity.
Security forces deployed to the church found blood smeared on the floor near the entrance. The US embassy in Amman announced on Saturday that security had been increased at malls, foreign embassies, and other sites across the country. The US and Israel had launched strikes against Iran in February, and Jordan was among the allies hit by Iranian attacks this year. US authorities have repeatedly thwarted attempts by Islamist militants to strike the country in recent years.
UN secretary general António Guterres condemned the violence, stating that attacks on civilians and places of worship are unacceptable. Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, called the event a depraved and brutal attack. Outside a government hospital in Karak, where supporters gathered for the wounded, Hani Al-Mbaydeen expressed shock. He said the state must investigate where such dark ideas originate and how they enter the minds of children.
Source: The Guardian
