AMMAN, Oct 23, 2026 (Net) – Gunmen killed at least seven people and
wounded dozens at a church in southern Jordan on Friday, authorities said,
with the king vowing retaliation for the rare attack on Christians in the
majority Sunni Muslim kingdom.
Assailants stormed the compound of a Greek Orthodox church in the village of
Hammoud in Karak governorate and opened fire, authorities said.
The gunmen got out of a vehicle and started shooting during a funeral
procession, the public security directorate said in a statement, adding that
a manhunt was underway for the perpetrators.
“The terrorist attack against Karak will be met with the harshest
retaliation,” King Abdullah II said in an English-language post on X.
“We will strike with an iron fist against those who dare to threaten our
nation.”
According to images from state broadcaster Al-Mamlaka, the king arrived in
Karak on Friday evening.
After authorities gave a death toll of six, Director of Public Security Major
General Abdullah Al-Maaytah said it had risen to seven with 34 injured, 27 of
whom were still receiving treatment.
Footage aired by Al-Mamlaka showed the moment of the attack.
Two gunmen are seen dressed in casual clothes and brandishing pistols, with a
third carrying a long gun, before they open fire on the church from an
entrance on the street and charge forwards.
“A terrorist group has carried out a horrific act, one that is condemned in
every respect, and the security services are working round the clock to track
them down,” Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya told a press conference.
“Jordan has been targeted by a terrorist attack carried out by a group of
extremists.”
He said the perpetrators had “absolutely no connection whatsoever to human
values” and it “only serves to strengthen the Jordanians’ resolve… to
combat and fight terrorism in all its forms”.
– ‘Heinous’ –
Minister of Government Communications Mohammed Al-Momani said security forces
were investigating the attack.
A witness told Al-Mamlaka the gunmen fired continuously for five minutes
before fleeing the scene.
Between 150 and 200 people were in and around the church at the time, the
witness said, adding that most of the victims were aged between 50 and 70.
Karak is home to a significant Christian community in the Muslim-majority
kingdom, where Christians make up between two and three percent of the
population.
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in Jordan said that if the attack was aimed at
driving out Christians from the holy land, “it will only make us cling to it
more firmly and deepen our roots in it”.
“We are absolutely certain that Jordanian society will remain impervious to
every dark, extremist ideology, and that this criminal act is far removed
from — and alien to — the moderate Islam of our country,” it said.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, the Arab world’s only Christian head of
state, called the shooting a “heinous terrorist attack”.
He said it “reaffirms once again that terrorism has no religion and no
homeland, and its aim is to strike at coexistence and spread strife”,
according to a presidency statement.
Attacks on houses of worship in Jordan are rare.
In 2016 an attack in Karak targeted a security centre and police patrols,
leaving 10 people dead.
The victims included seven security personnel and a female tourist, before
four militants who had barricaded themselves inside Karak’s historic castle
were killed.
