{"id":3280,"date":"2026-10-25T15:03:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T10:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3280"},"modified":"2026-10-25T15:03:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T10:03:47","slug":"jordan-king-orders-iron-fist-response-to-deadly-church-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3280","title":{"rendered":"Jordan king orders ‘iron fist’ response to deadly church attack"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Jordan\u2019s King Abdullah ordered security forces to respond with an \u201ciron fist\u201d as authorities searched for gunmen who opened fire and killed nine people during a church funeral service.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The assailants fired for several minutes<\/a> in broad daylight at the church in Karak governorate on Friday, \u200band also wounded 40 people in the rare attack on Jordan\u2019s Christian minority.<\/p>\n

Security \u200bwas stepped up at malls, foreign embassies and other locations across the country, \u2060the US embassy in Amman said.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Sense of panic<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A priest described how \u200bhe and others ordered people to get to the ground at Saint George\u2019s Greek Orthodox church, \u200babout 120km southwest of the capital, Amman.<\/p>\n

\u201cA sense of panic took hold among those present,\u201d Theodoros Soueiss told Reuters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gunfire was indiscriminate, and you never knew where a bullet might land.\u201d<\/p>\n

King Abdullah condemned the \u201cdespicable terrorist \u200bact\u201d as he chaired a National Security Council meeting and said there was no room for leniency when \u200bit comes to the lives of Jordanians, the royal court said.<\/p>\n

Such attacks are highly unusual in Jordan, a relatively stable state in the Middle East, though \u200cauthorities there say they \u2060have foiled several plots by extremists in recent years.<\/p>\n

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in the kingdom, a major partner with the US in the fight against militant groups.<\/p>\n

Officials have said it is too early to determine whether the attackers had links to known groups inside or outside Jordan.<\/p>\n

\u201cA massacre, a massacre in every \u200bsense of the word,\u201d \u200bsaid Tarek Ammarin \u2060at a hospital where the wounded were being treated. A relative of Ammarin\u2019s was injured in the attack.<\/p>\n

Christians make up a minority of Jordan\u2019s \u200bpopulation. The country is home to several biblical sites that attract Christian \u200bpilgrims from \u2060around the world.<\/p>\n

Jordan has been among the US allies in the Middle East to be hit by Iranian attacks this year after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n

Bahjat Al Rushda, mayor \u2060of \u200bShihan village in Karak, joined a long list of officials \u200bcondemning what they called an attack by extremist terrorists.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod willing, this country will remain secure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jordan\u2019s King Abdullah ordered security forces to respond with an \u201ciron fist\u201d as authorities searched for gunmen who opened fire and killed nine people during a church funeral service. The assailants fired for several minutes in broad daylight at the church in Karak governorate on Friday, \u200band also wounded 40 people in the rare attack on Jordan\u2019s Christian minority. Security \u200bwas stepped up at malls, foreign embassies and other locations across the country, \u2060the US embassy in Amman said. Sense of panic A priest described how \u200bhe and others ordered…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3280\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}