Jordanian security forces have arrested three armed suspects sought in connection with a deadly attack at a Greek Orthodox church in Karak governorate, Jordanian authorities said on Monday.
The suspects were found hiding in an abandoned house in Al-Jadeeda village, according to the Public Security Directorate statement reported by Al Jazeera. The directorate said they refused to surrender and attacked security forces, who returned fire and arrested all three after wounding them.
A Jordanian government source told Al Jazeera that the confrontation lasted about three hours and that one suspect was in critical condition. No security-force casualties were reported. Petra News Agency, as cited by Al Jazeera, said firearms and live ammunition were recovered at the site.
The arrests mark a change from the position reported two days earlier, when the three gunmen remained unidentified and at large. Al Jazeera’s earlier account said authorities had described the attackers as unknown assailants while investigating the shooting as an act of terror. It also reported that King Abdullah II had ordered a review of security procedures for responding to attacks and promised the perpetrators the harshest penalties.
The attack took place on Friday during a funeral at a Greek Orthodox church in Hamoud, about 120km southwest of Amman. Eight people were killed and 40 injured, according to Jordan’s Ministry of Health; 27 injured people remained in hospital on Monday, Al Jazeera reported.
Authorities have not identified an affiliated group or publicly established a motive. Jordan’s Interior Minister said officials were examining the circumstances that led young people to embrace violence, while the Public Security Directorate did not name a specific organisation.
The arrests also come as Jordan continues to manage the attack’s impact on a Christian minority concentrated in parts of Karak. The earlier Al Jazeera report said Christians make up about 300,000 of Jordan’s 11.5 million people and that the government had declared three days of mourning. The scope of any security-procedure changes ordered by the king remains unclear.