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Karak church attack toll rises to eight as US embassy says Jordan has tightened security
One more of the critically wounded died on Saturday, Jordan's health minister said. More than two dozen people are still in hospital after gunmen opened fire at a funeral.
Key points
- Health Minister Ibrahim Badour said the death toll had risen to eight.
- More than two dozen people are still being treated, one in critical condition.
- The US embassy in Amman said security had been stepped up across Jordan.
The death toll from Friday’s shooting at a funeral in a Greek Orthodox church in southern Jordan rose to eight on Saturday, after one of the critically injured died in hospital.
Health Minister Ibrahim Badour said more than two dozen people were still being treated, one of them in a critical condition. Security camera footage of the attack shows two gunmen with pistols approaching and opening fire, followed by a third man carrying a semi-automatic rifle.
The gunmen opened fire on Friday as mourners gathered for a funeral service inside the church in Karak governorate, south of Amman.
King Abdullah II has called the shooting a “terrorist act”. No group has said it carried out the attack.
The US embassy in Amman said on Saturday that security had been stepped up across the country after the attack in Karak governorate.
Karak, south of the capital, has a minority Christian population. The area has been hit before: in 2016 gunmen killed 10 people, seven of them officers, in attacks in Karak.
Jordan’s interior minister said on Friday that it was a terrorist attack unlike anything the country had seen. Jordanian authorities had earlier put the number of wounded at around 40.