Update: Death Toll in Jordan Church Funeral Attack Rises to Nine
A witness told The Associated Press that three masked gunmen came back to shoot people already wounded. No group has claimed the attack.
Learn more ›KARAK, Jordan —
Nine people are now dead after gunmen opened fire on a funeral at a Greek Orthodox church in Jordan's Karak governorate on Friday, Oct. 23, The Associated Press reported Saturday. About 40 others were wounded. The new count is higher than the seven deaths officials reported on Friday.
See where this is ›Witness Saed al-Halaseh told the AP that three masked men carrying automatic weapons suddenly appeared and began shooting. He said the gunmen then came back and shot again at people who had already been hit, and also fired at the front of the church. “They were simply mourners at a funeral,” he said.
“The sense of security we once had, the very foundation we grew up with, has, sadly, vanished,” al-Halaseh told the AP. He called it “truly a massacre.”
Jordan's government called the shooting a terrorist attack. The AP reported that King Abdullah II ordered authorities to answer the attackers with “an iron fist.”
As of Saturday, no group had claimed responsibility, no motive had been given and no arrests had been reported, according to the AP. Karak has a minority Christian population, and al-Halaseh said Jordan, and Karak in particular, had long been seen as a symbol of people of different faiths living together.
What we don't know yet: The death toll has changed several times, from six to seven to nine, and could change again. No group has claimed the attack, no arrests have been announced, and the motive and the attackers' identity are still unconfirmed. We are still gathering details.
