The three men Jordan accuses of opening fire on mourners inside a village church put up a fierce fight at dawn before security forces took them alive.
Jordanian security forces arrested three men Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, over the attack on a Greek Orthodox church that killed nine people and wounded dozens, the Public Security Directorate said. The arrests followed a dawn shootout in Karak governorate, roughly 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Amman, where all three suspects were wounded and no member of the security forces was hurt.
Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya, in a phone interview with the state broadcaster Al-Mamlaka, said investigators identified the three early on and that the security services used every means available to run them down. “The security services have fulfilled their duties, resulting in the capture of those who carried out this terrorist act,” he said. They resisted hard, he added, and were subdued and taken into custody with severe injuries. The directorate declared that terrorism had no place in the country.
A Blue Pickup at the Gate
The attack came Friday, Oct. 23, during a funeral service at Saint George’s Greek Orthodox Church in the village of Hammoud, one of the small Christian communities scattered across Karak. Three gunmen pulled up at the church in a blue pickup truck, according to authorities. One wore a mask and carried a Kalashnikov rifle; the other two left their faces uncovered and carried handguns.
They began shooting near the main entrance, where mourners had gathered, and fired continuously for about five minutes before driving off. One person present said up to 200 mourners were inside and around the church, and that most of the victims were between 50 and 70 years old. The gunmen carried large quantities of ammunition, changed magazines several times and fired again at some people after they had fallen, Al Jazeera’s Arabic service reported.
Nasser al-Burqan, a lawyer who lived through the shooting, told Reuters that an attacker about 2 meters (6.5 feet) away aimed a handgun at him and fired. His son, also at the service, later called from a hospital to say he had been shot in the leg.
Bells at Noon Across Jordan
King Abdullah II traveled to Karak to see the wounded at Prince Ali Military Hospital and has ordered a review of how the kingdom’s security agencies respond to terrorist attacks. He vowed the harshest penalties for those responsible and struck a theme his government repeated all weekend. “Those who imagined that treacherous bullets could divide Jordanians have been thwarted by our resilience and unity,” the king said.
Church bells rang at noon Saturday, Oct. 24, across Jordan in remembrance of the dead, at the request of the patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem, who condemned the killing of worshippers during a burial and said such violence would not fracture Jordanian society. Some 3,000 people turned out Oct. 25 for a funeral for the victims. That same day, Pope Leo XIV used his Angelus address to pray for the dead and injured and to express his nearness to a country long known for coexistence between faiths.
A Publication Ban and No Claim
No group has claimed responsibility, and no armed group has been accused. The Public Security Directorate has not named the three suspects or pointed to links with any Islamist militant organization, and a public prosecutor has barred the publication of investigation details. Media reports citing Jordanian government and security sources said the attackers espoused a takfiri ideology, an extremist outlook that brands other Muslims unbelievers. Prime Minister Jafar Hassan has blamed the bloodshed on terrorist ideology and “blind extremism.”
Casualty counts shifted through the weekend as the wounded were treated. The Health Ministry counted 40 injured as of Oct. 24, with 27 still hospitalized. Christians number about 300,000 of Jordan’s 11.5 million people, and Karak is home to one of the country’s minority Christian populations — a point government spokesman Mohammad Momani pressed when he said an attack on any Jordanian, whatever their faith, is an attack on the whole of Jordanian society.