Karak Church Attack: King Abdullah Demands Firm Response
Eight people were killed and 40 wounded during a Friday funeral at a Greek Orthodox church, prompting heightened security across the country.
By Maya Almasi ·
Jordan's King Abdullah ordered security forces to act decisively after gunmen killed eight people at a church in the Karak governorate.
The royal court stated that the monarch instructed officials to hunt down those responsible for the shooting, which occurred in broad daylight while a funeral service was under way.
Gunmen fired for several minutes inside the Greek Orthodox church, located roughly 120 kilometers southwest of Amman. Officials classified the incident as an act of extremist terrorism, though no group has yet claimed responsibility.
Security measures have been tightened at shopping malls, foreign embassies, and other public sites nationwide. The US embassy in Amman confirmed the increased patrols, and authorities continue to search for the perpetrators.
King Abdullah traveled to Karak within hours of the shooting. He vowed that the attackers would be punished with an iron fist, while Prime Minister Jafar Hassan described the event as a result of terrorist ideology and blind extremism.
Survivors described chaotic scenes during the gunfire. Nasser al-Burqan, a lawyer who survived the attack, told Reuters that an attacker standing about two meters away aimed a handgun and fired. He later received a call from his son, who was also at the service, reporting that he had been shot in the leg and was receiving hospital treatment.
Al-Burqan added that he saw two assailants through a window after the shooting stopped. One was masked, while the other was unmasked and carrying a handgun. At a local hospital, Tarek Ammarin, whose relative was injured, called the event a massacre in every sense of the word.
Bahjat al-Rushda, the mayor of Shihan village in Karak, condemned the wicked attack. Jordan has declared three days of national mourning following the incident, which is rare in the US-allied kingdom. Officials noted that while they have foiled similar plots in recent years, it is too early to determine if the attackers had ties to known groups inside or outside the country.
Source: Al Jazeera
