AL-JUDAYYDA, Jordan — Jordanian security forces arrested two brothers and their brother-in-law on Monday after a shootout in Karak governorate, three days after gunmen opened fire during a funeral at a Greek Orthodox church and killed nine people, senior security officials said, according to Reuters.
Hamoud, where Friday’s shooting took place, is a village about 75 miles southwest of Amman. Forty other people were wounded. Witnesses said the shooting went on for several minutes.
Jordan’s Public Security Directorate said in a statement carried by state media that officers found the three men hiding in an abandoned house in Karak. The men refused to surrender and opened fire, the directorate said. Officers shot back, wounded all three and took them into custody. No member of the security forces was hurt, and firearms and ammunition were recovered.
“Terrorism has no place among us,”
Speaking at a press conference, Maj. Gen. Obeidallah al-Maaytah, Jordan’s director of public security, said the three appear to have acted alone. “God willing, they only represent themselves,” he said.
Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya said the investigation is not finished. “The file has not yet been closed; investigations are still ongoing. As of today, there are no indications of any links between them and other cells,” al-Faraya said.
The statement gave no names for the three men and did not say whether they belonged to any group. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which Jordanian authorities have described as the work of “extremist terrorists.”
King Abdullah ordered security forces to respond with an “iron fist” after the attack on the Christian minority. Al-Faraya said authorities are reviewing how young people are drawn toward extremism and will hold accountable anyone who took part.
The men lived near Hamoud, according to the officials, who said they will face justice. Such an attack is rare in Jordan, a U.S. ally in the Middle East, though authorities say they have stopped several Islamist militant plots over the years.
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