15 minutes of gunfire kills seven at Jordan church funeral

Seven people lost their lives and at least 34 others suffered injuries when gunmen opened fire during a funeral at a church in Hmoud, central Jordan, on Friday. The violence unfolded in a country where such incidents are rare, forcing mourners to flee through windows and hide under pews while prayers mixed with screams inside the building.

Witnesses described a chaotic 15 minute assault that began seconds after a prayer was completed. Khalid al-Mdanat, who was present at the service, stated that the shooting continued while people attempted to escape. He reported that the attackers left through the main doors and departed in a pickup truck, continuing to fire as they drove away. Another witness described the sound of the gunfire as resembling the start of a war, while a woman inside the church noted that the situation escalated for ten continuous minutes before she exited to find bodies scattered in the courtyards.

Verified CCTV footage shows three armed men approaching the church from a road. Two of the men entered what appeared to be a vehicle entrance, retreated briefly, and returned with a third companion. All three individuals were carrying handguns. No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack, and the perpetrators have not yet been identified.

Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya labeled the attackers a group of extremists at a news conference on Friday. He described the incident as painful, horrific, and unparalleled in the history of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Authorities are currently working to arrest those responsible. King Abdullah II stated that the government would confront the terrorist act with the harshest penalties.

Initial reports of the death toll were inconsistent, with early figures citing seven deaths, a government spokesperson briefly reporting six, and officials later confirming the number back to seven. Security forces imposed strict controls at the hospital in Karak treating the wounded, closing nearby roads and requiring visitors to park and walk to the entrance. The presence of the King, who visited the injured, further tightened security around the facility.

The Karak governorate is home to a sizeable Christian community within a majority Muslim nation. Local residents expressed shock and anger, with some voicing frustration over what they perceived as a failure to adopt a tougher approach toward terrorists. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, a Christian head of state, condemned the event as a heinous terrorist attack that violated the sanctity of death and contradicted religious and humanitarian values.