- Public Security Directorate confirms six people were killed and 28 injured during a funeral at Hamoud Greek Orthodox Church
- Authorities have not publicly identified the attackers or established a motive, while security forces pursue the suspects
- King Abdullah II and Interior Minister Mazin Al-Faraya describe the attack as terrorism as the government intensifies its response
Six people were killed and 28 injured when gunmen opened fire during a funeral at Hamoud Greek Orthodox Church in Jordan’s southern Karak Governorate on Oct. 23, according to the Public Security Directorate. The confirmed toll superseded earlier reports by state broadcaster Al-Mamlaka, which had put the number of fatalities at seven and the number of injured at 10. The attack took place in Karak, around 180 kilometres south of Amman, an area with a longstanding Christian community.
Witnesses cited by Al-Mamlaka said armed men arrived in a vehicle and fired on mourners for several minutes before fleeing. One attendee said one of the assailants carried a rifle and the other a pistol, although the authorities have not publicly confirmed the number of attackers, the weapons used or their identities. Prime Minister Jaafar Hassan was due to chair a Security Council meeting in Karak to follow the response, while King Abdullah II and Interior Minister Mazin Al-Faraya described the incident as a terrorist attack. No group had claimed responsibility and no official explanation of the motive had been released at the time of writing.
The Amman Prosecutor General has imposed a gag order covering reporting and online circulation of information related to the case, apart from official government media, which means independently verified details may remain limited in the near term. The shooting recalls the 2016 Karak attacks, when Islamic State militants targeted police and civilians before being killed following a siege at the city’s historic castle. There is currently no public evidence linking the two incidents. The attack is nevertheless a serious test for Jordanian security services and for the government’s emphasis on national unity, particularly because it targeted a religious gathering in a country where large-scale domestic attacks have been rare in recent years.