Gunmen carried out a deadly attack on a church in southern Jordan during a funeral Friday, authorities said. The public security directorate initially said at least seven people were killed but later lowered the death toll to six.
The directorate said 28 other people were wounded in the rare attack on Christians in the majority Sunni Muslim kingdom.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II vowed the “harshest retaliation” against the attackers.
“Every Jordanian life is precious, and we will strike with an iron fist against those who dare to threaten our nation,” he said on social media.
Assailants stormed the compound of a Greek Orthodox church in the village of Hammoud in Karak governorate before opening fire, the directorate said in a statement. Karak, home to a significant Christian community in the Muslim-majority kingdom, is 110 miles south of the capital, Amman.
The gunmen got out of a vehicle and opened fire during a funeral procession, the directorate added, saying a manhunt was underway for the perpetrators.
Footage aired by state broadcaster Al-Mamlaka showed the moment of the attack. In the video, two gunmen are seen dressed in casual clothes and brandishing pistols, with a third carrying a long gun, before they open fire on the church from an entrance on the street and charge forward.
Minister of Government Communications Mohammed Al-Momani said security forces were investigating the attack.
An eyewitness told Al-Mamlaka that a vehicle arrived carrying the gunmen, who fired continuously for five minutes before fleeing the scene.
Between 150 and 200 people were in and around the church at the time, the witness said, adding most of the victims were aged between 50 and 70.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, the Arab world’s only Christian head of state, called the shooting at the church a “heinous terrorist attack.”
He said that it “reaffirms once again that terrorism has no religion and no homeland, and its aim is to strike at coexistence and spread strife,” according to a presidency statement.
In 2016, gunmen ambushed police in a series of attacks in Karak, including at a Crusader castle popular with tourists, killing 10 people, including seven officers, and wounding dozens. Jordanian security forces killed the gunmen after a long standoff.