Seven people have been killed in an attack on a funeral in central Jordan, officials have said. At least 34 others were injured as gunmen opened fire on a church in Hmoud, in the Karak governorate on Friday. The unidentified gunmen are reported to have arrived in a car, entered the church and opened fire before fleeing. No-one has admitted carrying out the attack.
In a news conference, Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya said authorities were working to apprehend the perpetrators which he described as a “group of extremists”. Jordan’s King Abdullah II said authorities would “confront the terrorist act that targeted Karak with the harshest penalties”. Initial reports indicated seven people had been killed in the attack. A government spokesperson later said six people had died, before officials again revised the death toll to seven.
CCTV footage, verified by the BBC, appears to shows three gunmen making their way from a road toward the church. Two of the attackers are seen making their way on to what appears to be a vehicle entrance to the church grounds, before retreating briefly and returning with a third man. All three appear to be armed with handguns. Separate footage believed to be from the aftermath of the attack appears to show several dead and wounded bodies on the ground amid chaotic scenes.
Witnesses have described scenes of panic inside the church as people threw themselves under pews searching for cover, moving away from the windows. Prayers and screams could be heard throughout the building as some tried to flee. Khalid al-Mdanat was at the church and told BBC Arabic the attack lasted around 15 minutes with “people trying to flee while the shooting was still active”. “People began pushing and throwing themselves to the ground,” he said.
“Some were taking cover, some were cradling the dead, others were holding their sons close, some were grabbing their children and fleeing, while others were holding onto their friends who were with them at the church.” He said the gunmen left through the church doors and fled in a pickup truck “firing as they went”. Another witness said: “I heard something as if a war had just started. “I thought it was an electrical short circuit. I looked, people lying on the ground, wounded.
The scene was catastrophic.” A woman in the church said explosions rang out seconds after a prayer. “The sound of machine guns started, and the sound of glass. We began to realise that something was happening. The witness described how the situation “continued to escalate for 10 continuous minutes”.
Once she ran out the church she said “bodies were all in the courtyards”. Al-Faraya has described the incident as “painful and horrific” and “unparalleled in the history of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan”. There was a heavy security presence at the entrance to a hospital treating people injured in the incident in Karak, amid an atmosphere charged with anger among residents of the governorate, particularly the families of those injured and killed. Many looked distressed as roads were closed around the facility and people were forced to park their cars and continue on foot.
Security measures were also tightened ahead of the visit by King Abdullah II to check on the injured. The atmosphere around the hospital remained tense as the sound of crying and shouting was heard as families mourned their loved ones. Many people appear shocked, frightened and angry. Some expressed frustration at what they described as “a failure to take a tougher approach towards terrorists”.
Karak has a sizeable Christian community in the majority-Muslim Jordan. Such violence is rare in the country, but deadly attacks have been carried out in the past. Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, a Christian head of state, said the “heinous terrorist attack” on the church “violated the sanctity of death and funeral mourners, contradicts all religious and humanitarian values,” according to Lebanese media. Additional reporting by Majdi Gousous, BBC Arabic.
