Nine killed at Jordan church

Nine people died and 40 others sustained injuries when armed attackers opened fire during a funeral service at a church in Jordan on Friday. The violence struck St George's Greek Orthodox church in the town of Hamoud, located in the Karak governorate. Officials have labeled the incident a terrorist act committed by extremists. This event marks a rare assault on the country's Christian population.

Maj. Gen. Abdallah al-Maaytah, head of the Public Security Directorate, reported that most of the wounded were receiving medical care. He confirmed that a search for the remaining suspects was ongoing. The health minister stated the total number of injured individuals stands at 40. Interior minister Mazin Al Farrayeh attributed the shooting to extremist actors. He noted that it was too early to determine if the attackers had connections to specific groups inside or outside Jordan. No organization has publicly claimed responsibility for the attack.

State-owned Al-Mamlaka television broadcast security camera footage from the church. The video shows three individuals firing at the building from a sidewalk. They took cover behind trees and a low wall before moving toward the entrance. Reuters verified the clip by matching the entry path and surrounding architectural details. Witnesses described a chaotic scene inside the church. Priest Theodoros Soueiss told Al-Mamlaka that he and others urged the congregation to get down. He said, "A sense of panic took hold among those present, and the gunfire was indiscriminate." Khaled Burqan, a funeral attendee, said the gunmen fired for several minutes while dozens of people were present. Ihab Ammareen described seeing people collapse in blood, noting that the crowd was crying and screaming.

Prime minister Jafar Hassan posted on X that the attack resulted from terrorist ideology and blind extremism. He stated that Jordan would not allow society to follow that path. King Abdullah visited Karak within hours of the shooting. He promised to punish the perpetrators with an iron fist and said those trying to divide Jordanians with bullets have no chance. Reuters footage taken after the event showed blood on the floor near the entrance where security forces were deployed. The US embassy in Amman announced on Saturday that security measures had increased at malls, embassies, and other sites across the country.

UN secretary general António Guterres condemned the violence against civilians and places of worship. Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, described the incident as a depraved and brutal attack. Jordan is generally considered stable, though US authorities have foiled several attempted attacks by Islamist militants in recent years. The country faced Iranian attacks this year after the US and Israel struck Iran in February. Christians remain a minority in Jordan, a nation home to biblical sites that attract global pilgrims. Hani Al-Mbaydeen, standing outside a government hospital in Karak, urged the state to investigate where such dark ideas originate and how they enter the minds of children.