Jordan’s King Abdullah ordered security forces on Saturday to respond with an “iron fist” as authorities searched for gunmen who opened fire and killed nine people during a church funeral service.
– The assailants fired for several minutes in broad daylight at the church in Karak governorate on Friday, and also wounded 40 people in the rare attack on Jordan’s Christian minority.
– Security was stepped up at malls, foreign embassies and other locations across the country, the US embassy in Amman said.
– A priest described how he and others ordered people to get to the ground at Saint George’s Greek Orthodox church, about 120 km (75 miles) southwest of the capital, Amman.
– “A sense of panic took hold among those present,” Theodoros Soueiss told Reuters. “The gunfire was indiscriminate, and you never knew where a bullet might land.”
– King Abdullah condemned the “despicable terrorist act” as he chaired a National Security Council meeting and said there was no room for leniency when it comes to the lives of Jordanians, the royal court said.
– Such attacks are highly unusual in Jordan, a relatively stable state in the Middle East, though authorities there say they have foiled several Islamist plots in recent years.
– There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in the kingdom, a major partner with the US in the fight against militant groups.
– Officials have said it is too early to determine whether the attackers had links to known groups inside or outside Jordan.
– “A massacre, a massacre in every sense of the word,” said Tarek Ammarin at a hospital where the wounded were being treated. A relative of Ammarin’s was injured in the attack.
– Christians make up a minority of Jordan’s population. The country is home to several biblical sites that attract Christian pilgrims from around the world.
– Jordan has been among the US allies in the Middle East to be hit by Iranian attacks this year after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February.
– Bahjat al-Rushda, mayor of Shihan village in Karak, joined a long list of officials condemning what they called an attack by extremist terrorists.
– “God willing, this country will remain secure,” he said.