HAMOUD, Karak, Sunday, October 25, 2026 — Mourners gathered on Sunday at the same Greek Orthodox church in southern Jordan where gunmen opened fire during a funeral two days earlier, as the kingdom buried the victims of one of the rarest attacks on its Christian minority in living memory and security forces kept up their hunt for the killers.
The funeral service for the nine Christians killed in the attack was held at St George’s Greek Orthodox Church in Hamoud village, in Karak governorate about 100 kilometres south of Amman, state media reported. Church bells rang across Jordan at noon on Saturday in mourning for the dead, and workers had cleaned the church before visitors arrived to express solidarity, according to reports from the scene.
Death toll rises to nine
Jordan’s health minister, Ibrahim al-Badour, said two more wounded people had died in hospital on Saturday, taking the death toll from seven to nine, state media reported. Twenty-five other wounded people remained in hospital, the minister said, while earlier official accounts put the total number of injured at more than 30.
The gunmen struck on Friday, October 23, while mourners were gathered for a funeral inside the church compound. Witnesses described sudden, sustained gunfire and panic as people sought cover, and reports said at least three armed men approached the church before opening fire. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Manhunt continues, churches guarded
None of the assailants had been captured by Sunday, Jordanian officials said, and a manhunt was continuing across Karak and beyond. Security was stepped up at malls, foreign embassies and other locations, the United States embassy in Amman said, while on Sunday security forces were stationed at churches across the country during Sunday services in what reports described as an unprecedented tightening of security at Christian sites.
Jordan’s Public Security Directorate has described the shooting as a terrorist attack. Government spokesperson Mohammad Momani said the attackers held an extremist takfiri ideology, and officials have stressed that Christians are part of Jordan’s national fabric.
King vows ‘iron fist’ response
King Abdullah II chaired a National Security Council meeting on Saturday and ordered the harshest response against those responsible, saying there would be no leniency when it comes to the lives of Jordanians. The king, who visited the injured in hospital dressed in military fatigues, called the attackers “outlaws” and ordered the government to review policies for countering extremist ideology and to intensify efforts to eradicate its root causes.
Prime Minister Jafar Hassan ordered three days of national mourning from Friday, and all state agencies were working to bring the perpetrators to justice, state media reported.
Regional solidarity
Condemnations continued to arrive from across the region and beyond, including from Malaysia, Pakistan and Türkiye. On Sunday, the embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Amman lowered its flag to half-mast in solidarity with Jordan, state media reported, after the UAE had earlier condemned the attack and restated its full support for the kingdom.
Such attacks are rare in Jordan, a relatively stable kingdom home to several biblical sites attracting Christian pilgrims from around the world.
[…] October 25, 2026 — Jordan buried on Sunday the nine victims of a gun attack on a church funeral in the southern governorate of Karak, as the death toll climbed […]