Crimeupdated 1h ago2 min read
MapKing Abdullah II Orders Iron Fist Response After Gunmen Attack Saint George’s Church In Karak
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Nine killed, forty wounded in Karak church attack. Gunmen opened fire during a church funeral in Karak.
Church attack in Karak
Gunmen opened fire during a funeral at Saint George’s Greek Orthodox Church in Hammoud, in Jordan’s Karak governorate, killing nine people and wounding 34, according to Jordan Public Security Directorate statements cited by China Daily HK and according to ABC News’ reporting of the toll. King Abdullah II chaired a National Security Council meeting and vowed there would be “no leniency when it comes to the lives of Jordanians,” while the royal court said he ordered security forces to respond with an “iron fist.”
Jordanian Minister of Health Ibrahim Bdour said 22 people remained in hospitals in stable condition on Saturday, as ABC News reported. The US embassy in Amman reported increased security at malls, foreign embassies and other locations across the country, and ABC News said surveillance footage verified by ABC News showed at least three gunmen pulling up at the church entrance before opening fire.
Identities, ideology, and witnesses
Jordan’s Prime Minister Jafar Hassan said the attack was the result of “blind extremism,” and he also said Jordan would “confront the terrorist act that targeted Karak with the harshest penalties,” as ABC News reported. Jordan’s government spokesperson Mohammad Momani said the attackers subscribed to “extremist takfiri ideology,” and Fox News reported that Momani emphasized Christians are “part of Jordan's national fabric.”
Theodoros Soueiss told Reuters that “A sense of panic took hold among those present,” and he said “The gunfire was indiscriminate, and you never knew where a bullet might land.” Dirgham Al-Halasah described the shooting as a moment when “We have victims, we have wounded, we have great pain,” and ABC News reported that mourners were still in the church courtyard when the shooting began.
Aftermath and security response
Jordan declared three days of national mourning after the attack, and Petra reported that the death toll from the terrorist act in Karak had risen to nine after one of the wounded died, as Al Jazeera wrote. Authorities continued searching for the gunmen, and Al Jazeera reported that it was too early to determine whether the attackers had links to known groups inside or outside Jordan.
King Abdullah II said the perpetrators would be punished “with an iron fist,” and Al Jazeera reported that he visited Karak hours after the attack. Tarek Ammarin said “A massacre, a massacre in every sense of the word,” and Al Jazeera reported that a relative of Ammarin’s was injured in the attack while wounded people were being treated.