Jordanian security forces arrest 3 men over last week’s deadly church attack

Jordanian security forces arrest 3 men over last week’s deadly church attack

Jordanian security forces arrested three men on Monday for an attack on a Greek Orthodox Church that killed nine people and wounded more than two dozen last week. The arrest involved a shootout and all three men were wounded, officials said.

The Public Security Directorate said no member of the Jordanian forces was wounded in the dawn shootout in Karak, south of Jordan’s capital, Amman.

The attack on Friday in Karak, which is home to a minority Christian population, struck the Greek Orthodox Church during a funeral. Three men were reported to have taken part in the attack.

There has been no claim of responsibility, and no armed group has been accused of the attack.

Jordanian Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya identified the three men as those responsible for the attack.

“The security services have fulfilled their duties, resulting in the capture of those who carried out this terrorist act,” he said in a phone interview with state TV Al-Mamlaka. “They put up fierce resistance against the security forces, but were ultimately subdued and taken into custody, having sustained severe injuries.”

He added that there “are three individuals involved; they were identified early on in the wake of the terrorist incident, and the security services employed all the means at their disposal to apprehend them.”

King Abdullah II had ordered authorities to respond with “an iron fist” against what he called the outlaws of Islam and anyone attempting to undermine the unity of the Jordanian people.

“We vowed the terrorists would not escape punishment, and no proponent of dark ideologies that divide Jordanians will be tolerated,” he said in a statement on Monday.

Relatives of the victims said the arrests brought them some relief.

“Despite the profound and immense tragedy, what happened today has eased our grief — and the grief of the Jordanian people — not just for us, the families of the martyrs,” Khaled al-Borqan, himself a survivor of the attack and a relative of three of the people killed, told Al-Mamlaka.

“Despite the sadness and pain, the news brought us joy,” Fares Halaseh, an uncle of one of the victims and a survivor of the attack, told the TV station.

But the pain remains, he added. “We will not forget this agony for years to come.”