Jordanian security forces have arrested three suspects in connection with an attack on a Greek Orthodox church on Friday. At least eight people were killed and more than two dozen others were wounded in the rare attack in Karak governorate, located some 120km (75 miles) southwest of the capital, Amman. Authorities said the attack was carried out by “extremist terrorists”.
Jordan’s Interior Minister Mazin al-Farrayeh said on Monday that all three suspects were Jordanians and “were identified early on in the wake of the terrorist incident, and the security services employed all the means at their disposal to apprehend them”. They were hiding in an abandoned house in the village of al-Jadeeda in Karak, the Public Security Directorate said, adding that they refused to surrender and attacked security forces, who returned fire and arrested all three suspects. They “put up fierce resistance against the security forces, but were ultimately subdued and taken into custody, having sustained severe injuries”, al-Farrayeh said.
He added that many locations were raided in efforts to apprehend the suspects, and the scope of the search was expanded until the suspects were surrounded during the final operation. The Public Security Directorate said the suspects were injured, including one critically, during the dawn raid in Karak on Monday. Security forces recovered firearms and ammunition at the suspects’ hideout, the state news agency Petra reported.
A Jordanian government source told Al Jazeera that the gun battle to arrest the suspects lasted about three hours in the village of al-Jadeeda, a six-minute drive from Hamoud, where the church attack happened. Jordan’s King Abdullah II ordered security forces to respond with an “iron fist” to the unprecedented attack on the Christian minority community. St George’s Church in the village of Hamoud in Karak governorate, which was attacked, is known for its medieval-era castle.
Armed men stormed the church compound during a funeral procession on Friday, killing eight people and wounding 34 others. Security camera footage of the attack has been circulating online. Video broadcast by Al-Mamlaka TV shows three people shooting outside the church and running towards its entrance.
Other footage showed the attackers opening fire on a group of men outside the building trying to flee. The Public Security Directorate did not name the suspects or publicly identify possible affiliations with any armed group. Interior Minister al-Farrayeh said a group of “extremists” that have “no relationship to humanity” were responsible for the attack, though no specific groups were mentioned.
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