Eight dead in Jordan after gunmen open fire during funeral

Eight people died and 40 others were wounded when gunmen opened fire at a Greek Orthodox church in the Karak governorate of Jordan on Friday.

The shooting took place in broad daylight while a funeral was being held. Officials stated the attackers fired for several minutes. The royal court announced that King Abdullah has ordered security forces to pursue the suspects and respond with force.

The Karak district lies approximately 120 kilometers southwest of the capital, Amman. Jordanian authorities labeled the incident an act of extremist terrorism. No organization has claimed responsibility for the strike. The government declared three days of national mourning.

King Abdullah traveled to Karak shortly after the attack. He stated that the perpetrators would be punished with an iron fist. Prime Minister Jafar Hassan posted on the social platform X that the violence stemmed from a terrorist ideology and blind extremism. Hassan added that the nation would not allow society to follow that path.

Surveillance footage recorded on Saturday showed police officers patrolling the exterior of the church. Nasser al-Burqan, a lawyer who survived the shooting, described the scene to Reuters. He noted that one attacker stood about two meters away and aimed a handgun at him. Al-Burqan later learned his son had been shot in the leg and was receiving hospital care.

Al-Burqan said he saw two assailants through a window after the gunfire stopped. One was masked, and the other carried a handgun while unmasked. Tarek Ammarin, a relative of a wounded individual, described the event at a local hospital as a massacre in every sense. Bahjat al-Rushda, the mayor of Shihan village, called the attack wicked and expressed hope that the country would remain safe.

Violence of this scale is uncommon in the region. The United States and Jordan maintain a partnership in fighting armed groups across the Middle East. Jordan has foiled multiple plots by groups with strict Islamic interpretations in recent years. Karak hosts a minority Christian population, and the country contains biblical sites that attract pilgrims from various nations.