Jordanian security forces are searching for the gunmen who opened fire during a funeral at Saint George’s Greek Orthodox Church in Hammoud village, in Karak governorate, on Friday. The attack killed eight people and wounded 40, with one critically injured victim dying on Saturday after surgery and intensive-care treatment.
The shooting began shortly after the funeral service started. Footage broadcast on Jordanian state television showed two men apparently carrying pistols approaching the church and firing, followed by a third man who appeared to carry a semiautomatic rifle. The three then moved toward the church entrance. Witness footage showed broken windows and bloodstains inside the building.
Nasser al-Burqan, a lawyer who survived, said one attacker stood roughly two metres away and fired a handgun at him. Al-Burqan later learned that his son, who was also at the church, had been shot in the leg.
The identities of the attackers and their motive have not been established. A government statement described the perpetrators as unknown assailants, while Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya called the incident a terrorist operation.
Prime Minister Jafar Hassan said the attack resulted from terrorist ideology and blind extremism, but officials did not identify a group behind it. King Abdullah II said Jordan would confront the attack with the harshest penalties and offered condolences to victims’ families. The government declared three days of national mourning, and authorities said those responsible would be arrested and brought to justice.
Church leaders in Jerusalem said Muslims and Christians in Jordan had lived together for generations and called for church bells across the region to ring at noon on Saturday in solidarity with the dead and wounded. The United Nations, Al-Azhar’s grand imam and governments including Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Oman also condemned the shooting.
Karak was the site of a major militant assault in 2016, when gunmen attacked police and a Crusader-era castle, killing 10 people, including seven officers and a Canadian tourist. The current investigation had not publicly linked Friday’s shooting to that earlier violence or identified any organization as responsible.