Jordanian Public Security announced that the authorities were able to arrest those suspected of carrying out the attack that occurred last Friday on the Hammoud Church in Karak, which resulted in the death of nine people and the injury of 40 others.
Jordanian Public Security reported in a statement that security forces found the three perpetrators early Monday morning, as they were hiding in an abandoned house in Karak Governorate.
According to the statement, the suspects refused to surrender and opened fire on the security forces, who responded to the sources of fire, which led to their injury and subsequent arrest.
There were no casualties among the security force during the clash, according to Jordanian Public Security.
The official "Al-Mamlaka" TV channel reported that the attackers, all Jordanians, were taken to the hospital, noting that "the health condition of one of them is serious, while the health condition of the other two is stable."
During a press conference following the arrest of the perpetrators, Jordanian Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraiah described the operation as “quality and took place in difficult circumstances.”
Al-Faraya considered that the arrest of the perpetrators “is not the end of the road, as investigations are still ongoing, people are being interrogated, and technical evidence is being collected,” explaining that “the operation is continuing and everyone proven to be involved in this terrorist act will be held accountable in any way.”
The Director of Jordanian Public Security, Major General Obaidullah Al-Maaytah, pointed out that the perpetrators belonged to one family, and that two of them were brothers, while the third was their relative, announcing their names.
Al-Maayta spoke of the lack of "pre-planning" to carry out the attack, noting that "a number of weapons and a large amount of ammunition were seized from the three terrorists after the clash with them."
In this context, the Minister of Government Communications and spokesman for the Jordanian government, Muhammad Al-Momani, said: “We stand on guard and will strike with an iron hand, without mercy or complacency, anyone who tries to harm Jordan’s security and the safety of its citizens.”
He added: "Terrorism has no place among us, and this group outside religion, customs and morals met its just fate at the hands of the security force."
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya announced the end of the joint security operation that led to the arrest of the three perpetrators.
Al-Faraya wrote on the
The Jordanian Minister of the Interior said on Friday that the attack was carried out by extremists, indicating at the same time that it was too early to determine their connection to known groups inside or outside Jordan. No party claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Jordanian authorities had explained that gunmen stormed the campus of a Greek Orthodox church in the village of "Hamoud" in Karak Governorate, during a funeral ceremony on Friday, where they opened fire.
'They will not get away with it'
Meanwhile, Jordanian King Abdullah II wrote via X, following the arrest of the perpetrators, “We said that terrorists will not escape punishment, and no thinker who differentiates between Jordanian and Jordanian will escape punishment...”
King Abdullah visited the village of Hamoud to offer condolences to the victims of the attack, according to the Jordanian Royal Court.
The funeral of the ninth victim
Meanwhile, Jordanians mourned on Monday the body of Muhammad al-Qasous, the ninth victim of the attack on the church.
Prayers were held over the body at one o'clock in the afternoon, local Jordanian time, in the Church of the Master's Entry into the Temple in the Sweifieh area in the capital, Amman, with popular and official participation, before the body was transferred to the Christian cemetery in the Sahab area to be buried, according to the official Jordanian News Agency.
The Greek Orthodox Archbishopric priest, Father Alexios Qaqish, praised what he described as "the efforts of the security services to quickly arrest the perpetrators of the terrorist crime, stressing the importance of preserving Jordan's security, stability and national unity."
On Sunday, thousands of Jordanians participated in the funeral of the bodies of 8 victims of the attack in the village of Hamoud in Karak Governorate, southern Jordan.
