Seven people have been killed and at least 34 others injured after gunmen opened fire during a funeral at a church in central Jordan, officials have said.
The attack occurred on Friday at a church in Hmoud, in the Karak governorate, where between 150 and 200 people were gathered, according to a witness.
The assailants reportedly arrived in a car, entered the church and opened fire before escaping.
Jordan’s Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya said security agencies were working to arrest those responsible, describing them as a “group of extremists”.
King Abdullah II condemned the incident, pledging that authorities would “confront the terrorist act that targeted Karak with the harshest penalties”.
The reported death toll changed several times following the attack.
Initial reports put the number of fatalities at seven, but a government spokesperson subsequently announced six deaths before officials later confirmed seven.
Closed-circuit television footage verified by the BBC appeared to show three armed men approaching the church from a nearby road.
Two of them were seen moving towards what appeared to be a vehicle entrance to the church grounds before briefly retreating and returning with a third man.
All three appeared to be carrying handguns.
A witness estimated that the shooting lasted about 15 minutes and said the attackers appeared to have used “automatic weapons”.
“I heard something as if a war had just started,” he said. “I thought it was an electrical short circuit. I looked, people lying on the ground, wounded.”
“The scene was catastrophic.”
A woman who was inside the church said the violence erupted seconds after a prayer, as gunfire and breaking glass sent worshippers into panic.
“The sound of machine guns started, and the sound of glass. We began to realise that something was happening.
“People started screaming.
The witness said the situation “continued to escalate for 10 continuous minutes”. She added that when she escaped from the church, “bodies were all in the courtyards”.
Footage believed to have been recorded after the attack appeared to show several people lying dead or wounded on the ground, while scenes of panic unfolded inside the church as worshippers sought shelter beneath pews and moved away from the windows.
Faraya described the incident as “painful and horrific” and “unparalleled in the history of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,” during a news conference.
Security was heightened around a hospital in Karak where victims were receiving treatment, while roads near the facility were closed.
Families of those killed and injured gathered outside, with crying and shouting heard as residents expressed grief and anger over the incident.
Security personnel were also deployed ahead of King Abdullah II’s visit to the hospital to check on the injured.
Karak has a sizeable Christian population despite Jordan being a predominantly Muslim country.
Although attacks of this nature are uncommon in the kingdom, the country has experienced deadly violence in the past.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the incident, describing it as a “heinous terrorist attack” that “violated the sanctity of death and funeral mourners, contradicts all religious and humanitarian values,” according to Lebanese media.
