King Abdullah II Orders Harshest Penalties After Karak Church Funeral Attack

Three gunmen opened fire inside a Greek Orthodox church in Karak, Jordan, on Friday, killing seven people and injuring 40 during a funeral service. The town lies roughly 90 kilometers south of the capital, Amman.

State television broadcast video of the assault showing two armed men with pistols advancing toward the building. A third man carrying a semiautomatic rifle then emerged and joined the exchange. Witnesses recorded footage of shattered glass and blood on the church floor.

Dorgham Halasa, a mourner present at the service, described the moment the violence began. "It was a weird situation, and heavy gunfire," Halasa said. He reported that the shooting started approximately 15 minutes after the funeral commenced. While Halasa did not see the attackers himself, he noted that other mourners spotted four individuals. Security services have not yet confirmed the final count of assailants.

The Jordanian government stated that unknown assailants carried out the attack. Officials said investigations are underway at full speed but did not indicate whether any shooters had been captured or killed. The country declared three days of national mourning.

Health Minister Ibrahim al-Budour reported that two of the 40 wounded remain in critical condition. King Abdullah II posted on X that the kingdom will confront the terrorist act with the harshest penalties. He offered condolences to the families of the martyrs and wished the wounded a speedy recovery.

Prime Minister Jafar Hassan addressed a security meeting in Karak on Friday evening. He characterized the attack as the product of terrorist ideology and blind extremism. Hassan promised legal measures against those seeking to introduce extremism into the society.

Karak holds a minority Christian population and has experienced deadly violence in the past. In 2016, gunmen ambushed police near a Crusader castle in the town, killing ten people. Regional leaders, including U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, condemned the attack. Guterres called the shooting especially heinous because it occurred during a funeral and urged that all responsible parties be held to account.