Jordan Arrests Three Suspects in Karak Church Attack Following Dawn Raid

Jordanian security agencies arrested three suspects in connection with the Karak Church attack that killed eight people and wounded thirty-four, following a dawn raid conducted by security forces in the village of Al-Jadida in Karak governorate.

Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraye announced that all three detainees are Jordanian nationals who were identified early after the incident, noting that they barricaded themselves in an abandoned house, refused to surrender, and opened fire on security forces first. Security forces returned fire and arrested them following intense resistance, during which all three detainees sustained injuries, one of them in critical condition.

Al-Faraye said the operation required sweeping multiple locations and gradually expanding the search perimeter until the suspects were cornered in the final raid. He referred to a group of "extremists" with no connection to humanity behind the attack, without naming a specific organization. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far, and the Public Security Directorate has refrained from disclosing the identity or affiliations of the detainees.

The Public Security Directorate reported recovering firearms and ammunition from the suspects' hideout, according to what the official Jordanian News Agency (Petra) reported. According to a Jordanian government source speaking to Al Jazeera, the armed confrontation lasted approximately three hours in Al-Jadida village, which is only a few minutes from Hamoud village, the site of the original attack.

Armed gunmen had stormed the Mar Girgis Church complex in Hamoud village in Karak governorate, located approximately 120 kilometers southwest of the capital Amman, during a funeral procession on Friday, in an attack authorities described as "unprecedented extremist terrorism." King Abdullah II mobilized security forces and ordered them to deal with the perpetrators with an "iron fist."