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The Public Security Directorate reported six killed and 28 wounded on Friday, 23 October, after state-owned media first reported seven dead. Deutsche Welle carried a figure of seven dead and 34 wounded.
A witness told state media that 150 to 200 people were present, and the Ammon news agency reported at least ten wounded and two shooters who fired first at people outside the church and then inside before fleeing.
Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya said a group of extremists carried out the attack, while King Abdullah II promised the harshest retaliation against those responsible.
Karak, about 180 kilometers south of Amman, has a significant Christian population in a country of around 11.5 million people, where Christians number a couple hundred thousand.
Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a funeral at a church in the Karak governorate of southern Jordan on Friday, 23 October. The Public Security Directorate said six people were killed and 28 wounded. Earlier, state-owned and local media had reported seven dead, and Deutsche Welle carried a toll of seven dead and 34 wounded, so the figures differ by source. The church is called Hammoud in the reports, and Deutsche Welle described it as Greek Orthodox. A witness told state media that 150 to 200 people were at the church when the shooting began.
Accounts of the gunmen also vary. Most describe two men, while BBC Turkish, citing state television footage, described three armed men, two with pistols and one with a long-barrelled weapon. A witness quoted by BBC Turkish said the attackers changed magazines and fired for five minutes before fleeing.
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Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya said a group of "extremists" carried out the killings, according to Deutsche Welle. Government spokesperson Mohammad al-Momani said security forces had opened an investigation. Prime Minister Jafar Hassan was due to chair a security council meeting in Karak on Friday, with the rest of the cabinet expected to attend, according to LaSexta. Several senior officials had already traveled to Karak.
The Public Security Directorate said no organization had been linked to the attack, described the perpetrators as unknown individuals and said its inquiries were moving quickly. Some Jordanian media, citing investigation sources, described the attackers as takfiris, a term for radical Muslims who accuse others of apostasy. The authorities had not confirmed that description. Petra reported that the attackers were on the run, and security forces launched an operation to find them.
King Abdullah II said the attack would be met with "the harshest retaliation" and that the state would "strike with an iron fist" against those who threaten the nation.
“Those who delude themselves into thinking that they can divide Jordanians with their bullets have no chance in the face of our unity.”
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, a Christian, condemned what he called a "heinous terrorist attack" and expressed condolences to the victims. US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz called the news devastating and said attacks on Christians were escalating worldwide.
“Attacks on Christians continue to escalate worldwide and must be stopped.”
Jordan is largely Muslim, with around 11.5 million people and a small Christian minority of a couple hundred thousand, according to Deutsche Welle. BBC Turkish puts the Christian share at roughly 2 to 3 percent. Karak, about 180 kilometers south of Amman, has a significant Christian population, and Deutsche Welle notes that gun attacks like this one are rare in the country.
The Independent reports that Jordan has been increasingly targeted by Iranian attacks this year, since the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February. Karak was also the site of a 2016 attack on a security centre and police patrols that killed 10 people, according to BBC Turkish, which also reports that four attackers died there. The country is preparing to mark the 2,000th anniversary of the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River.
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Two unidentified men opened fire on a funeral procession outside a church in Karak on Friday, 23 October. The Public Security Directorate put the toll at six dead and 28 wounded, while state-owned media had first reported seven dead.
AI text based on reports by Deutsche Welle, der Standard, BBC and other publishers. Changed .