Crimeupdated 1h ago2 min read
Gunmen Kill Seven at Greek Orthodox Church Funeral in Hamoud, Jordan's Karak Governorate
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Seven people killed and about 34-40 wounded in church funeral attack in Karak, Jordan. Gunmen attacked during a Greek Orthodox Church funeral in Hamoud village; fled the scene.
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Church funeral shooting
Gunmen opened fire during a funeral at a Greek Orthodox church in the village of Hamoud in Jordan’s Karak governorate on Friday, killing at least seven people and wounding 34 others, according to Director of Jordan’s Public Security Directorate Obaidullah Al-Maaytah. Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya told a press conference that the “terrorist” attack was “unprecedented” and was perpetrated by a group with “no relationship to humanity,” while Jordan’s King Abdullah II vowed authorities would confront the attackers “with the harshest penalties.”
BBC reporting said the unidentified gunmen arrived in a car, entered the church, opened fire, and then fled, and it later revised the death toll from six to seven. Witnesses described panic inside the church as people threw themselves under pews searching for cover, and Khalid al-Mdanat said the attack lasted around 15 minutes with “people trying to flee while the shooting was still active.”
Conflicting casualty counts
Jordan’s interior minister Mazen al-Faraya described the attack as a “painful and horrific” and “unparalleled in the history of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,” while BBC reporting said the casualty toll was revised several times throughout the day. CBS News reported that the interior minister said 34 other people were wounded, while CNN said at least seven people were killed and another 40 injured after gunmen opened fire on a church in Jordan’s southern Karak province.
The BBC said CCTV footage verified by the BBC appears to show three gunmen making their way from a road toward the church, and it described two attackers moving toward a vehicle entrance before retreating briefly and returning with a third man. A witness told BBC Arabic that the gunmen left through the church doors and fled in a pickup truck “firing as they went,” and another witness said, “I heard something as if a war had just started.”
Manhunt and regional reaction
Jordan’s public security directorate said security forces deployed to the church and were pursuing suspects, and it said a manhunt was underway for the perpetrators after the gunmen got out of a vehicle and opened fire during a funeral procession. The United Arab Emirates foreign ministry condemned what it described as “terrorist and criminal acts” and said it rejected all forms of violence “that aim to undermine security and stability,” while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack during a funeral as “especially heinous,” according to his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun called the shooting a “heinous terrorist attack,” and the Iraqi government said the attack “demonstrates that terrorism is a root of evil that the Iraqi people have previously suffered from and confronted with determination and strength.” Jordan declared three days of national mourning, during which flags will be flown at half-staff over all government and public buildings, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II said Jordan will “strike with an iron fist” against those who dare to threaten the nation.