JERUSALEM — Gunmen opened fire Friday during a funeral at a church in Jordan, killing seven people and wounding 40 others, authorities said.
The shooting took place at a Greek Orthodox church in Karak, about 180 kilometers (110 miles) south of the capital, Amman.
Footage broadcast by Jordanian state television showed two armed men who appeared to be holding pistols approaching the church and firing shots. A third man, who appears to be holding a semi-automatic rifle, then approaches and opens fire, then all three run towards the church.
Video footage taken by witnesses shows broken glass and pools of blood on the floor of the church.
Dorgham Halasa, who was among the mourners inside the church, said intense gunfire broke out 15 minutes after the funeral began and then people started running. “It was a strange situation, with heavy gunfire,” Halasa said.
He did not see the gunmen, but said other people reported seeing four of them. The Associated Press could not independently verify the number of attackers and Jordan’s security services did not immediately release details.
A government statement said the attack was “carried out by unknown attackers” but did not specify whether any gunmen were captured or killed. He indicated that “the investigations are progressing at full speed”.
Jordan declared three days of national mourning, according to the kingdom’s Petra news agency.
Karak is home to a minority Christian population.
In 2016, gunmen ambushed police in a series of attacks in Karak, including on a Crusader castle popular with tourists, killing 10 people, including seven officers, and injuring dozens. Jordanian security forces killed the gunmen after a prolonged confrontation.
Jordanian Health Minister Ibrahim al-Budour said two of the injured were in critical condition.
King Abdullah II declared on the
Jordanian Prime Minister Jafar Hassan told a security meeting in Karak on Friday evening that the attack was the result of terrorist ideology and indiscriminate extremism. He said the attackers will be punished and legal measures will be taken against those who seek to introduce extremism.
Condemnation of the killings came from across the region, including Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Oman.
Ahmed al-Tayeb in Cairo, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, the world’s largest Sunni Muslim religious institution, offered his condolences to the families of the victims of Friday’s shooting, calling it a “heinous terrorist attack.”
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein called his Jordanian counterpart and “affirmed Iraq’s solidarity with Jordan in the face of terrorism,” Hussein’s office said in a statement.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack at the funeral as “particularly heinous,” spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said. “The Secretary General also calls for all those responsible to be found and held accountable. »
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