Karak Church Attack Leaves Eight Dead as Three Gunmen Flee

Eight people lost their lives in a shooting at a Greek Orthodox church in the village of Hamoud on Friday afternoon. The attack occurred during a funeral service in Karak governorate, located approximately 120 kilometers south of Amman. Security forces are currently searching for three gunmen who escaped the scene.

Witnesses reported hearing an explosion shortly after the service began. Two assailants arrived in a vehicle and were joined by a third man carrying a semi-automatic rifle. The group entered the building and fired for several minutes before exiting. Petra news agency confirmed that seven victims died at the scene, while an eighth woman succumbed to her injuries hours later. Of the 40 individuals wounded, 27 remain hospitalized. The director of Prince Ali Military Hospital in Karak stated that one patient is in critical condition following surgery.

Nasser al-Burqan, a lawyer who survived the incident, described being shot in the leg by an attacker standing about two meters away. His son, also present at the church, was treated for a leg injury. Tarek Ammarin, who was visiting an injured relative, called the incident a massacre in every sense of the word. Prime Minister Jafar Hassan labeled the event a product of terrorist ideology and blind extremism. Interior Minister Mazin Al-Farrayeh blamed a group of extremists but did not name a specific organization.

King Abdullah II sent condolences to the families of the victims and stated that those responsible would face the harshest penalties. He ordered a review of Jordan's security procedures for responding to terrorist attacks. The government has declared three days of mourning, with flags flying at half-mast over government and public buildings.

Karak governorate is home to many of Jordan's roughly 300,000 Christians. Taylor Luck, a senior Middle East correspondent, noted that the community takes pride in interfaith solidarity. He said Christians and Muslims have lived side by side in the area for generations. Condemnations arrived from several nations, including Azerbaijan, Iraq, Poland, Palestine, and Qatar. Ahmed al-Tayeb, grand imam of Cairo's Al-Azhar, described the incident as a heinous terrorist attack.

Attacks on Christian sites are rare in the kingdom. In 2016, the ISIL group carried out a series of attacks in the region. Those incidents included a siege on a Crusader-era castle that killed 10 people, including a Canadian tourist and seven police officers. Four attackers were killed by Jordanian security forces after a standoff.