40 injured as gunmen open fire at Jordan church funeral, killing nine

Nine people died and forty others were wounded during a funeral service at a Greek Orthodox church in Jordan on Friday.

The shooting occurred at St. George’s church in the town of Hamoud, located in the Karak governorate. Maj. Gen. Abdallah al-Maaytah, head of the Public Security Directorate, confirmed that most of the injured were receiving medical treatment. He stated that security forces continued to search for the attackers after the incident.

Interior Minister Mazin Al Farrayeh identified the perpetrators as extremists. He noted that it was too early to determine if the group had connections to known organizations inside or outside Jordan. No group had claimed responsibility for the attack at the time of reporting. The Health Ministry officially counted forty individuals among the wounded.

Footage from a security camera on the church premises, aired on state television, showed three men firing from a pavement. The video, verified by Reuters, captured the shooters taking cover behind trees and a low wall before moving toward the building entrance. Witnesses described the gunfire as indiscriminate. Priest Theodoros Soueiss told the crowd to get down, noting that panic spread quickly because bullets landed without warning.

Prime Minister Jafar Hassan described the attack on social media as a result of terrorist ideology and blind extremism. He promised that society would not follow that path. King Abdullah traveled to Karak within hours of the shooting. He vowed to punish the perpetrators with an iron fist and said that those attempting to divide the nation with bullets had no chance against national unity.

The US embassy in Amman reported that security measures were increased at malls, foreign embassies, and other locations across the country on Saturday. In New York, UN Secretary General António Guterres condemned the violence against civilians and places of worship. Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, called the event a depraved and brutal attack on a house of worship.

Jordan is generally considered stable, though US authorities have reported foiling several attempted attacks by Islamist militants in recent years. The country was also targeted by Iranian strikes earlier in the year after the US and Israel launched operations against Iran in February. Christians remain a minority in the country, which hosts several biblical sites that attract international pilgrims.

Outside a government hospital in Karak, Hani Al-Mbaydeen expressed the shock felt by many in the community. He argued that the state must investigate the origin of dark ideas and how they enter the minds of young people.