The interior ministry of Jordan said on Friday that a group of “extremists” attacked St. George’s Greek Orthodox church in the southern al-Karak governorate, killing at least seven people and wounding 34 others.
Eyewitnesses told Jordanian state media that a vehicle deposited the killers outside the church, which had 150 to 200 worshippers inside at the time. The gunmen “fired continuously for five minutes” and then fled the scene.
arious local media reports said two or three gunmen, armed with a rifle and pistols, were responsible for the carnage. A video clip taken from a security camera on the church shows three people firing on the building from behind the cover of trees and a low wall.
“Karak is home to a longstanding Christian community, a minority in the predominantly Muslim country. Christian communities, including the Greek Orthodox community, form a significant part of the region’s religious and cultural heritage,” Vatican News noted. Jordan overall has about 300,000 Christians in a population of 11.5 million.
According to a BBC report, the church in the village of Hmoud was holding a funeral when the gunmen perpetrated what the Jordanian government denounced as a “heinous attack.”
“Jordanians reject this cowardly terrorist act. It will strengthen the country’s push to combat terrorism all its forms,” said Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II quickly denounced the killings as a “terrorist attack” on social media, and promised the “harshest retaliation.”
“Those who delude themselves into thinking that they can divide Jordanians with their bullets have no chance in the face of our unity. All Jordanians, from north to south, are partners in land and fate, and nothing stands between them,” he said.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, who is the only Christian head of state in the Arab world, denounced the “heinous terrorist attack” in Karak and said it “reaffirms once again that terrorism has no religion and no homeland, and its aim is to strike at coexistence and spread strife.”
The attack was also condemned by the governments of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, and by Palestinian Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called the attack an “act of pure hatred” in a statement on Friday.
“To attack Christians gathered to mourn is an assault on human dignity and the right to live one’s faith without fear. Our hearts are with the families whose grief has been compounded by this violence,” said Nadine Maenza, co-chair of the ADL’s Task Force on Middle East Minorities.
“Christians, just like any other religious minority, belong in Jordan and across the Middle East as equal citizens, with every right to worship openly and build a future in their homeland. We must stand together against those who would use terror to take that future away,” Maenza said.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem condemned the “vile, cowardly, and bloody act,” and expressed full confidence that Jordan’s security services “possess the professionalism and swiftness required to bring these terrorist criminals to justice.”
