Three Gunmen Flee Karak Church Attack
Eight people were killed during a funeral service in the village of Hamoud, with 27 survivors still hospitalized.
By Maya Almasi ·
Three unidentified men fled after shooting inside a Greek Orthodox church in the village of Hamoud on Friday afternoon. The assault occurred during a funeral service in Karak governorate, resulting in eight deaths and dozens of injuries, according to the Ministry of Health. Security forces launched a search for the suspects immediately after the gunfire stopped.
Survivors described the sequence of events as rapid and violent. Two attackers arrived in a vehicle, while a third man, carrying a semi-automatic rifle, joined them. They entered the building and fired for several minutes. Nasser al-Burqan, a lawyer who survived, stated that one attacker stood roughly two meters away and fired a handgun at him. His son, also present, was shot in the leg and is currently receiving hospital treatment.
Jordan’s Petra news agency reported that seven victims died at the scene. An eighth victim, a woman, died hours later from her injuries. Of the 40 people wounded, 27 remained in hospital as of Saturday. The director of Prince Ali Military Hospital in Karak said one patient is in critical condition following surgery.
King Abdullah II ordered a review of security procedures for responding to terrorist attacks. He stated that those responsible would face the harshest penalties. Prime Minister Jafar Hassan declared three days of national mourning, ordering flags to be placed at half-mast on government buildings. Interior Minister Mazin Al-Farrayeh attributed the attack to a group of extremists, though he did not name a specific organization.
The motive for the shooting remains unclear. State broadcast footage showed the three men firing on a group of men outside the church who were attempting to flee. Tarek Ammarin, who was visiting an injured relative, described the incident as a massacre in every sense of the word. The attack marks a rare violent incident at a Christian site in the kingdom.
Karak lies approximately 120 kilometers south of Amman. The region is home to many of the country’s 300,000 Christians. Taylor Luck, a senior Middle East correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, noted that the community has a long history of interfaith coexistence. He suggested the attack is likely to strengthen local solidarity rather than divide it.
International reactions included condolences from the United States embassy in Jordan and condemnations from leaders in Azerbaijan, Iraq, Poland, Palestine, and Qatar. Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Cairo’s Al-Azhar, labeled the event a heinous terrorist attack. Jordan has previously experienced violence in the area, including a 2016 siege of a castle by ISIL that killed ten people.
Source: Al Jazeera
