Seven Killed as Armed Men Attack Karak Church Funeral in Jordan

Seven people died and at least 34 were wounded on Friday when armed attackers struck a funeral inside a church in Hmoud, Karak governorate, Jordanian officials said. The assailants, who have not been identified, arrived by car, entered the building, opened fire, then left. No individual or group has claimed the attack.

Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya said authorities are working to arrest those responsible, whom he called a "group of extremists". At a news conference he described the assault as "painful and horrific" and "unparalleled in the history of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan". King Abdullah II said the state would "confront the terrorist act that targeted Karak with the harshest penalties". Early reports put the dead at seven, a government spokesperson later said six, and officials subsequently returned to the figure of seven.

CCTV material reviewed by the BBC shows three gunmen walking toward the church from a road. Two appear to enter a vehicle access point to the church grounds, pull back briefly, then return with a third man. All three carry handguns. Other footage believed to show the aftermath depicts people lying wounded and dead in the courtyard.

Khalid al-Mdanat, who was inside, told BBC Arabic the firing lasted roughly 15 minutes, with "people trying to flee while the shooting was still active". He said the attackers exited through the church doors and drove off in a pickup truck, "firing as they went". One witness said, "I heard something as if a war had just started." A woman inside reported that shots began seconds after a prayer, that the situation "continued to escalate for 10 continuous minutes", and that "bodies were all in the courtyards" when she emerged.

Roads near a Karak hospital treating the wounded were closed, requiring people to park and walk. Security was increased further ahead of a visit by King Abdullah II to see the injured. Families gathered at the hospital, some voicing frustration at what they called "a failure to take a tougher approach towards terrorists".

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun condemned the assault as a "heinous terrorist attack", saying it "violated the sanctity of death and funeral mourners" and "contradicts all religious and humanitarian values", according to Lebanese media. Karak has a sizeable Christian community in majority-Muslim Jordan, where such violence is rare, though deadly attacks have occurred in the past.

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