Gunmen Kill Six at a Church Funeral in Southern Jordan
Six people were killed and 28 wounded when gunmen opened fire on mourners at a Greek Orthodox church in Karak governorate, south of Amman. The attackers fled and a manhunt is under way. No group has claimed responsibility, and the death toll was revised down from an initial seven.
Between 150 and 200 people were in and around the church, and most of those killed were aged between fifty and seventy; the firing went on for about five minutes. How many attackers there were is not settled. Jordan’s public security directorate says two, and a mourner who was there described one man with a rifle and one with a pistol — but closed-circuit footage verified by one broadcaster appears to show three men approaching the church, all of them carrying handguns. A government spokesman called the attack “heinous” and the prime minister is to chair a meeting of the security council attended by every minister. The context that makes this land hard in Jordan is Karak itself: a governorate where, as one Middle East correspondent put it, Christians and Muslims “have lived side by side for generations… This community prides themselves on its interfaith solidarity and coexistence.” Christians number about 300,000 in a population of roughly 11.5 million. An attack in Karak in 2016, claimed by Islamic State, killed ten people.