Jordan arrests 3 relatives over deadly church attack after shoot-out

Jordanian security forces arrested two brothers and their brother-in-law after a shoot-out on Monday over a church attack that killed nine people, and the suspects appear to have no ties to other cells, senior government security officials said.

“God willing, they only represent themselves,” Jordan’s Director of Public Security, Major-General Obeidallah al-Maaytah, said.

Such violence is highly unusual in Jordan, a relatively stable US ally in the Middle East, and Friday’s attack on the Christian minority prompted King Abdullah to order security forces to respond with an “iron fist”.

In a press conference, al-Maaytah and Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya said the country would not tolerate extremist terrorism.