Three Gunmen Kill Nine at Karak Church Funeral

Nine people died and 40 others were injured when gunmen opened fire during a funeral at St George's Greek Orthodox church in Hamoud, Karak governorate, on Friday. The shooting marks a rare violent attack on the Christian minority in Jordan. Officials have classified the incident as a terrorist act carried out by extremists.

Maj Gen Abdallah al-Maaytah, head of the Public Security Directorate, stated that most of the wounded were receiving treatment while the search for the attackers continued. Health Minister confirmed the injury count at 40. Interior Minister Mazin Al Farrayeh identified the perpetrators as "extremists" but noted it was too early to determine if they had ties to specific groups inside or outside the country. No organization has claimed responsibility for the attack as of Saturday.

Footage broadcast on the state-owned Al-Mamlaka television station appeared to show a security camera view of the church. The video captured three individuals firing toward the building from a pavement. They sheltered behind trees and a low wall before running toward the entrance. Reuters verified the clip by matching the entry path and surrounding wall details.

Witnesses described scenes of chaos inside the building. Priest Theodoros Soueiss said he and others urged the crowd to get down. He described the gunfire as indiscriminate, noting that no one knew where a bullet might land. Khaled Burqan, an attendee, told Al-Mamlaka that the gunmen fired for several minutes while dozens of people were present. Another witness, Ihab Ammareen, recounted seeing bloodied people collapse on the floor and heard crying and screaming from the crowd.

Prime Minister Jafar Hassan posted on X that the attack resulted from "a result of a terrorist ideology and blind extremism." He added that the government would not allow society to follow that path. King Abdullah visited Karak within hours of the shooting. He promised the perpetrators would be punished "with an iron fist" and stated that those trying to divide Jordanians with bullets would fail against national unity.

Reuters video from the scene after the attack showed blood smeared on the floor near the entrance. Security forces had deployed to the area. Outside a government hospital in Karak, where family members gathered to support the wounded, Hani Al-Mbaydeen expressed shock. He said the state must investigate where such "dark ideas" originate and how they enter the minds of children.

The US embassy in Amman announced on Saturday that security measures had been increased at malls, foreign embassies, and other locations across the country. UN Secretary General António Guterres condemned the violence, calling attacks on civilians and places of worship unacceptable. Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, described the incident as a "depraved and brutal attack on a house of worship." Jordan is considered relatively stable, though US authorities have reported foiling attempted attacks by Islamist militants in recent years. The country was among US allies in the region that faced Iranian attacks this year following strikes launched by the US and Israel in February. Christians remain a minority in Jordan, a nation that hosts several biblical sites attracting global pilgrims.