Nine Dead, 40 Hurt as Gunmen Attack Funeral at Jordan Church

Nine people were killed and 40 others wounded when gunmen opened fire during a funeral at a church in Jordan on Friday, in a rare attack targeting the country's Christian minority. Authorities have called it a terrorist act carried out by extremists.

The shooting took place at St George's Greek Orthodox church in Hamoud, in Karak governorate. Maj gen Abdallah al-Maaytah, head of the Public Security Directorate, said most of the wounded were receiving treatment and that the search for the attackers was continuing. The health minister put the number of injured at 40.

Interior minister Mazin Al Farrayeh said the attack was the work of "extremists", but added that it was too early to say whether they had ties to known groups inside or outside Jordan. No one has claimed responsibility so far.

Footage aired on the state-owned Al-Mamlaka television station appeared to come from a security camera at the church. It showed three people firing toward the building from a pavement, sheltering behind trees and a low wall, before running toward the entrance. Reuters said it verified the video by matching the entry path, the surrounding wall and other details.

Witnesses described scenes of terror. Priest Theodoros Soueiss said he and others told people to get down. "A sense of panic took hold among those present," he said. "The gunfire was indiscriminate, and you never knew where a bullet might land." Khaled Burqan, who attended the funeral, told Al-Mamlaka that dozens of people were there and that the gunmen fired for several minutes. Another witness, Ihab Ammareen, said he saw bloodied people collapse on the floor. "People were crying, wailing, screaming, it's hard to describe," he said.

Prime minister Jafar Hassan wrote on X that the attack was "a result of a terrorist ideology and blind extremism and we will not allow society to go down this path." King Abdullah, a leading US partner in the fight against militant Islamist groups, visited Karak within hours and promised the perpetrators would be punished "with an iron fist". He said those who think they can divide Jordanians with bullets "have no chance in the face of our unity."

Reuters footage from the church afterward showed blood smeared on the floor near the entrance, where security forces had been deployed. The US embassy in Amman said on Saturday that security had been stepped up at malls, foreign embassies and other locations across the country.

UN secretary general António Guterres condemned the violence, saying attacks on civilians and places of worship are unacceptable. Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, called it a "depraved and brutal attack on a house of worship".

Jordan is considered relatively stable, though US authorities say they have repeatedly foiled attempted attacks by Islamist militants in recent years. The country was also among the US allies in the region hit by Iranian attacks this year, after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February. Christians are a minority in Jordan, which is home to several biblical sites that draw pilgrims from around the world.

Outside a government hospital in Karak, where people gathered to support the wounded, Hani Al-Mbaydeen voiced the shock of many. He said the state must investigate where such "dark ideas" come from and "how they enter the minds of our children".