HAMOUD, Jordan — Jordan's King Abdullah ordered security forces on Saturday to respond with an "iron fist" as authorities searched for gunmen who opened fire and killed nine people during a church funeral service in Karak governorate on Friday, Reuters reported. The assailants fired for several minutes in broad daylight at the church and also wounded 40 people in a rare attack on Jordan's Christian minority.
Source: Reuters, Oct 24, 2026
The toll of nine is one higher than the eight reported earlier on Saturday, when Health Minister Ibrahim Badour said an eighth victim had died in hospital. A later update based on Jordan's Petra news agency also put the death toll at nine, with the manhunt and investigation continuing and no group having publicly claimed responsibility.
Source: Petra via BoldVoices, Oct 24, 2026
King Abdullah condemned what the royal court called a "despicable terrorist act" as he chaired a National Security Council meeting, and said there was no room for leniency when it comes to the lives of Jordanians, Reuters said. Prime Minister Jafar Hassan described the shooting, in a post on X cited in earlier reporting, as a result of terrorist ideology and blind extremism. Officials said it was too early to determine whether the attackers had links to known groups inside or outside Jordan.
Source: Reuters, Oct 24, 2026
Security was stepped up at malls, foreign embassies and other locations across the country, the US embassy in Amman said, according to Reuters and the Associated Press. A priest at Saint George's Greek Orthodox church, about 120 km (75 miles) southwest of the capital Amman, described the panic inside: "A sense of panic took hold among those present," Theodoros Soueiss told Reuters. "The gunfire was indiscriminate, and you never knew where a bullet might land."
Source: Associated Press via ASEAN Now, Oct 24, 2026
Such attacks are highly unusual in Jordan, a relatively stable state and a major US partner against militant groups, though authorities say they have foiled several Islamist plots in recent years, Reuters noted. Christians make up a minority of Jordan's population, and the country is home to several biblical sites that attract Christian pilgrims from around the world.
Source: Reuters, Oct 24, 2026