Jordan searches for gunmen after deadly church funeral attack

Jordanian authorities searched for gunmen who opened fire during a funeral at a Greek Orthodox church in Karak, killing at least seven people and wounding 40. King Abdullah II ordered security forces to pursue the attackers, and the country declared three days of national mourning.

The death toll differed between reports: NPR reported seven people killed, while Al Jazeera reported eight. Both outlets said 40 people were wounded. Karak is home to a minority Christian population.

The shooting erupted in broad daylight Friday, about 15 minutes after the funeral began, according to Dorgham Halasa, who was among the mourners in the church. He told NPR that people started running as intense gunfire broke out. “It was a weird situation, and heavy gunfire,” he said.

Footage broadcast on Jordanian state television showed two men who appeared to be holding pistols approaching the church and firing, NPR reported. A third man, apparently carrying a semiautomatic rifle, then approached and opened fire. All three ran toward the church. Witness video showed broken glass and pools of blood on the church floor.

Halasa said he did not see the attackers, though other people told him they had seen four. NPR reported that the Associated Press could not independently verify the number of assailants and that Jordan’s security services did not immediately release details.

Another survivor, Nasser al-Burqan, told Reuters that an attacker about two meters (6.5 feet) away pointed a handgun at him and fired, according to Al Jazeera. His son, who also attended, later called to say he had been shot in the leg and was being treated in a hospital. “When everything finally quietened down, I looked out the window behind me, and I saw two [assailants] — one was masked, the other was not; he was carrying a handgun,” al-Burqan said.

Authorities were still searching for the attackers, Al Jazeera reported. The outlet said authorities considered it too early to determine whether the gunmen had links to known groups inside or outside Jordan. No one immediately claimed responsibility. A government statement described the perpetrators as “unknown assailants” and said “investigations are underway at full speed.”

The U.S. Embassy in Amman said security had been increased at malls, foreign embassies and other locations, according to Al Jazeera. Jordan’s Health Minister Ibrahim al-Budour said two of the wounded were in critical condition.

King Abdullah visited Karak hours after the shooting and said the perpetrators would be punished “with an iron fist,” Al Jazeera reported. In a post on X, he said Jordan would confront the attack “with the harshest penalties” and offered condolences to victims’ families. Prime Minister Jafar Hassan called it the result of “terrorist ideology and blind extremism.”

Condemnation came from Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Oman and Iraq. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called an attack during a funeral “especially heinous” and urged that those responsible be held to account.