Shooting during a funeral in a church in Karak in southern Jordan leaves 6 dead, and the Jordanian king describes the incident as a “terrorist act”

The media spokesman for the Jordanian Public Security Directorate announced on Friday, “The criminal incident carried out by unknown persons at a funeral in Karak Governorate resulted in the death of 6 people and the injury of 28 others.”

The semi-official Al-Mamlaka Channel reported, according to a source, that “at least seven people died in the shooting attack on the Hamoud Church in Karak, and approximately 10 of them were critically injured.” The channel added, "Gunmen got out of a vehicle and opened fire during a funeral procession from Hamoud Church in Karak."

The Attorney General of Amman, Hassan Al-Abdallat, decided to “ban publication of the investigative case related to the events that took place around the Hammoud Church in Karak Governorate.”

The ban includes all news related to the case or the ban on publication and circulation, and the official government media under the supervision of the Ministry of Government Communications is excluded from the content of the aforementioned decision.

Eyewitnesses told the BBC that the gunmen "tried to storm the church, but the residents closed the doors and prevented them from entering."

An eyewitness added that the gunmen "targeted those in the church square."

Local media reported that a press conference would be held in Karak Governorate for the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Government Communications, and the Director of Public Security at around 5:30 local time (14:30 GMT).

For its part, Public Security warned in a statement “against circulating any information about the shooting incident at a funeral in Karak Governorate and adherence to the official statements issued on a regular basis, and under penalty of legal accountability,” according to what was reported by the official Jordanian news agency, Petra.

The agency also quoted the Minister of Government Communications, the official government spokesman, Muhammad Al-Momani, as saying in a post on social media, that “the security services are following up on the ground a shooting incident in Karak Governorate.”

Al-Momani added, "Statements with the information will be issued once verified, calling on everyone to allow the security services to take the required measures and obtain information from their official sources."