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JERUSALEM (AP) — Gunmen opened fire at a funeral at a church in Jordan on Friday, killing seven people and wounding 40 others, authorities said.
The shooting took place at a Greek Orthodox church in Karak, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of the capital, Amman.
Footage broadcast on Jordanian state television showed two gunmen who appeared to be holding pistols approaching the church and opening fire. A third person who appears to be holding a semi-automatic rifle then approaches and opens fire, and the three then run towards the church.
Video footage taken by witnesses showed broken glass and pools of blood on the church floor.
Dorgham Halasa, one of the mourners inside the church, said gunfire broke out 15 minutes after the funeral began, and then people started running. “The situation was strange and there was heavy gunfire,” Halasa said.
He did not see the gunmen, but said others reported seeing four of them. The Associated Press could not independently verify the number of attackers, and Jordanian security services did not immediately release details.
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A government statement said the attack was “carried out by unknown assailants,” but did not say whether any of the gunmen had been captured or killed. It said that “the investigation is underway at full speed.”
Jordan declared three days of national mourning, according to Petra News Agency.
Karak is home to a minority Christian population.
In 2016, gunmen ambushed police in a series of attacks in Karak, including on a Crusader castle popular with tourists, killing 10 people, including seven officers, and wounding dozens more. Jordanian security forces killed the gunmen after a lengthy standoff.
Jordanian Health Minister Ibrahim al-Budour said the two injured people were in critical condition.
King Abdullah II said in
Jordanian Prime Minister Jafar Hassan told a security meeting in Karak on Friday evening that the attack was the result of terrorist ideology and blind extremism. He said the attackers would be punished and legal action would be taken against those who attempted to introduce extremism.
Condemnation of the killing came from across the region, including Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Oman.
Ahmed al-Tayeb in Cairo, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, the Sunni Muslim world’s leading religious institution, offered his condolences to the families of Friday’s shooting victims, calling it a “heinous terrorist attack.”
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein called his Jordanian counterpart and “affirmed Iraq’s solidarity with Jordan in the face of terrorism,” Hussein’s office said in a statement.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack on the funeral as an “extremely heinous act,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. “The Secretary-General also calls for all those responsible to be found and held to account.”
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