Abdington Orders Manhunt After Gunmen Kill Eight at Jordan Church

Eight people died and 40 more were treated for wounds when attackers opened fire at a church service in southern Jordan on Friday.

King Abdullah directed security units to pursue those behind the shooting, the royal court said. He reached Karak within hours and said the people responsible would face punishment "with an iron fist." No organization has claimed the attack.

The assault occurred at a Greek Orthodox church in Karak, about 120km southwest of Amman, while a funeral was taking place. Gunmen fired for several minutes in daylight. Jordan's government labeled the incident an "act of extremist terrorism." Prime Minister Jafar Hassan posted on X that the violence grew from "a terrorist ideology and blind extremism," writing: "We will not allow society to go down this path." Police patrols stood outside the church on Saturday.

Authorities are seeking the attackers and have not determined whether they are linked to known organizations in Jordan or abroad, officials said. The US embassy in Amman reported that Jordan increased guarding at shopping malls, embassies and other locations. Three days of national mourning were declared.

Nasser al-Burqan, a lawyer who survived, told Reuters that an attacker standing about two metres from him aimed a handgun and fired. His son attended the same mass and later called to say he had been shot in the leg and was receiving hospital treatment. After the shooting stopped, al-Burqan looked through a window behind him and saw two assailants, one wearing a mask and the other carrying a handgun without covering his face.

At a hospital treating the injured, Tarek Ammarin, whose relative was hurt, called it "a massacre, a massacre in every sense of the word." Bahjat al-Rushda, mayor of the nearby village of Shihan, described the attack as "wicked" and said: "God willing, this country will remain safe."

Killings at houses of worship are uncommon in Jordan, though authorities in the US-allied kingdom say they have thwarted plots in recent years by armed groups acting on a strict reading of Islam. Karak holds a Christian minority population, and the country contains biblical sites visited by Christian pilgrims.

Police continue to search for those who carried out the shooting.