Gunmen Kill Nine at Church Funeral in Karak, Jordan, as Wounded Toll Stays at 40

Update: Suspects named as two brothers and their relative by marriage after a three hour gun battle in al-Jadeeda

Updated 07:19 UTC, Oct. 27, 2026. Jordan's Director of Public Security, Major General Obeidallah al-Maaytah, named the three men arrested on Monday for the October 23 church funeral attack in Karak as brothers Hazza Zeidan Muhammad and Mishal Zeidan Muhammad and their relative by marriage, Ahmed Sami Hussein, Al Jazeera reported. Al-Maaytah described Hazza as the planner and mastermind of the attack. The three are Jordanians, were identified early in the investigation, and will be investigated and brought before the courts, officials said.

A government source told Al Jazeera that the gun battle to arrest the suspects lasted about three hours in the village of al-Jadeeda, a short drive from Hamoud, where St. George's Greek Orthodox Church was attacked during a funeral, killing nine people and wounding 40. The Public Security Directorate said the suspects were injured in the dawn raid on an abandoned house, including one critically, and were taken to hospital. Reuters reported on Monday that senior security officials described the arrested men as two brothers and their brother in law, and Interior Minister Mazen al-Farrayeh said there was no indication the suspects have ties to other cells.

Update: Jordan strikes southern Syria and Syria closes the Nassib crossing

Updated 01:00 UTC, Oct. 27, 2026. Jordan said on Monday, October 26, that its air force struck what it described as militant hideouts in southern Syria, after determining that the suspects behind the October 23 church funeral attack in Karak were linked to terrorist groups operating there, Reuters reported. The Jordanian armed forces said the operation was conducted in coordination with Damascus. Syria gave a contradictory account, saying it had launched an investigation into the Jordanian attacks and stressing the importance of field and security coordination in border areas.

Seven people, including three children and a woman, were killed and three others were wounded in the Jordanian strikes, the Syrian Civil Defence said in a preliminary report carried by Reuters. Emergency teams responded to four sites hit by the strikes in the countryside of Daraa and Sweida provinces, and Jordan had no immediate comment on that account. Syria's defence ministry said in a statement reported by Al Jazeera that one strike hit five members of the same family, including three children, a woman and a man, and that two other strikes killed a 60 year old man and a man aged 80. The Jordanian military said the strikes killed and wounded many members of the groups and destroyed a number of their vehicles, and it did not specify which groups were attacked or the precise location of the strikes, Al Jazeera reported.

Damascus informed Jordan of its "complete reservation" over the strikes without prior coordination, the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement reported by Reuters. Shortly after the strikes, Syria closed the Nassib border crossing with Jordan on Tuesday, October 27, suspending passenger and commercial traffic in both directions and citing developments on the ground in Daraa province, the Syrian General Authority for Border Crossings and Customs said in a statement reported by Reuters. Nassib is Jordan's only passenger and commercial border crossing with Syria.

Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya said on Monday that investigations into the church attack were still ongoing. "The file has not yet been closed; investigations are still ongoing. As of today, there are no indications of any links between them and other cells," al-Faraya said, Reuters reported. Director of Public Security Major-General Obeidallah al-Maaytah said of the arrested suspects: "God willing, they only represent themselves."

Update: Three suspects arrested in Karak after shootout at abandoned house

Updated 05:13 UTC, Oct. 26, 2026. Jordanian security forces arrested three suspects early on Monday over the funeral attack at St. George's church in Hamoud, Karak, which killed nine people and wounded 40, Reuters reported, citing state television. The Public Security Directorate said the three were located early on Monday hiding in an abandoned house in Karak, refused to surrender and opened fire on security forces, who returned fire and arrested all three after they were wounded. No security personnel were injured, and a number of firearms and ammunition were found in the suspects' possession. The directorate said: "Terrorism has no place among us." It did not identify the suspects' affiliation or say whether they belonged to a militant group, and no group has claimed responsibility. Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya said on Monday that authorities were reviewing the circumstances that led young people towards extremism and would hold accountable anyone found to have participated in the attack, and King Abdullah ordered security forces to respond with an iron fist to the rare attack on Jordan's Christian minority.

Update: Survivors describe crawling to safety as funerals for the nine are expected on Sunday

Updated 12:32 UTC, Oct. 25, 2026. The funeral service for the nine people killed in the church attack in Karak is expected on Sunday, Reuters reported, as survivors described hiding, crawling to safety and finding relatives wounded outside St. George's church in Hamoud. Forty people were wounded. Authorities said they were still searching for the attackers, that there had been no claim of responsibility, and that it was too early to say whether the gunmen had links to known groups inside or outside Jordan.

Sahar al-Halsa told Reuters she hid behind a pillar when the gunmen opened fire during a funeral service for her cousin's daughter, hearing shooting and people screaming in panic. When she rushed outside, she found another cousin, Assem, lying wounded on the ground. She said she called to him, he opened his eyes to look at her, and then he was gone. Speaking from her home, from where the red dome of St. George's church is visible, she said: "My life starts now, because I was going to die." Her husband Ziad said he ran to the church after he heard the gunfire and felt overwhelming relief when he found his wife safe.

The Associated Press account from another survivor, Saed al-Halaseh, described three masked men with automatic weapons firing at people standing outside, then returning to fire again at people who had already been hit and at the facade of the church. He said he dropped to the ground and crawled behind a nearby car, which he said saved him, and described people he knew being shot as others tried to flee.

Ahead of the funerals, priest Yuhanna Hamati said the message from the church was one of love and peace. "Our message from this church, from this place where this horrific crime was committed, is a message of love, peace, and reassurance. A message that we send to the whole world," he said, in remarks reported by Reuters.

Update: Death toll rises to nine as another wounded person dies

Updated 16:43 UTC, Oct. 24, 2026. Jordan's Public Security Directorate announced on Saturday that another person wounded in the Karak church attack has died from their injuries, raising the death toll to nine, the official Petra news agency reported. The new toll replaces the count of eight killed and 40 wounded that this article carried after the Reuters and CNN reports on Saturday morning. CNN has also revised its report to at least nine people killed and another 40 injured. The Associated Press, in its Saturday news summary, also reported nine dead and nearly 40 wounded, and described a survivor saying mourners crawled for their lives as gunmen fired inside the church during the funeral.

Government spokesperson Mohammad Momani said on Saturday that the attackers subscribed to an extremist takfiri ideology, which brands people who reject a strict interpretation of Islam as apostates or nonbelievers, Fox News reported. Health Minister Ibrahim al-Budour said on Saturday that one critically injured patient remained hospitalised at Prince Ali Military Hospital in unstable condition, according to the same report. Jordanian authorities have not announced any arrests, and it remains unclear whether the gunmen were affiliated with any group.

Update: Death toll rises to eight as security is stepped up across Jordan

Updated 09:12 UTC, Oct. 24, 2026. Reuters reported on Saturday that gunmen killed eight people and wounded 40 in the church attack, as security was stepped up at malls, foreign embassies and other locations across Jordan, the United States embassy in Amman said. CNN also revised its report to at least eight people killed and another 40 injured. The new toll replaces the count of seven killed and 40 wounded that this article carried after the Associated Press report on Friday.

Reuters said authorities were still searching for the attackers on Saturday, that there was no immediate claim of responsibility, and that it was too early to determine whether the attackers had links to known groups inside or outside Jordan. Reuters video showed police patrolling on Saturday outside the Hamoud church, about 120 km (75 miles) southwest of the capital Amman. A man at a hospital where the wounded were being treated, Tarek Ammarin, whose relative was injured, said: "A massacre, a massacre in every sense of the word," Reuters reported.

Update: Wounded toll revised to 40 as AP matches the CNN count

Updated 00:24 UTC, Oct. 24, 2026. The Associated Press reported on Friday that gunmen opened fire during a funeral at a church in Jordan, killing seven people and wounding 40 others, citing authorities. The figure matches the 40 injured that CNN reported in its latest update, a figure this article noted on Friday evening as unconfirmed by any other outlet at that time. The revised wounded count replaces the figure of 34 wounded that Jordan's director of public security gave at a news conference earlier on Friday, when he said 27 of the wounded were still in hospital.

Jordan's Health Minister Ibrahim al-Budour said two of those wounded are in critical condition, CNN reported. The gunmen have not yet been captured, the public security agency said at a news conference on Friday afternoon, and officials described the shooting as a terrorist attack against Christians attending a funeral in the town of Hmoud.

Update: Jordan declares three days of mourning as the king visits the wounded in Karak

Updated 20:57 UTC, Oct. 23, 2026. Prime Minister Jafar Hassan declared three days of national mourning across Jordan starting on Friday, with flags flown at half mast on ministries, government departments and public institutions, the official Petra news agency reported. The prime minister's communique extended condolences to the families of the victims and to the people of Karak, and wished the injured a speedy recovery.

Hassan said what happened in Karak was the result of extremist terrorist ideology rooted in takfir, the practice of declaring others to be infidels, and said Jordan would not allow society to go down that path, Petra reported, in remarks carried by CNN. King Abdullah travelled to Karak on Friday evening and visited the wounded at Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein Hospital, CNN reported, after earlier vowing that Jordan would confront the terrorist act with the harshest penalties.

The United States Embassy in Jordan offered condolences to the victims and survivors and expressed solidarity with the king, CNN reported. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Iraqi government also condemned the attack. The confirmed toll remained seven killed and 34 wounded, the count Jordan's director of public security gave at a news conference earlier on Friday. CNN reported 40 injured in its latest update, a figure no other outlet had confirmed by Friday evening, so this article keeps the director's count until officials revise it.

Update: Police director puts the toll at seven killed and 34 wounded

Updated 16:02 UTC, Oct. 23, 2026. Jordan's director of public security, Maj. Gen. Obeidallah Maaytah, told a news conference that seven people were killed and 34 wounded in the shooting at the Greek Orthodox church in Karak, the Associated Press reported. Maaytah said 27 of the wounded were still being treated in hospital. The toll replaces the directorate's earlier count of at least six killed and 28 injured, which is recorded below.

A government statement said the attack was carried out by unknown assailants and that investigations were under way at full speed. The statement did not say whether any gunman had been captured or killed. State television images show two gunmen holding pistols approach the church and fire, then a third man holding a semiautomatic rifle open fire before all three run toward the church, AP reported.

Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya, speaking at the same news conference in Karak, called the shooting a terrorist attack carried out by a group of extremists and said security services were working around the clock to reach the perpetrators. No named group had claimed the attack, and officials did not name the attackers.

AP noted that Karak was also the scene of a deadly attack in 2016, when gunmen ambushed police in a series of attacks that included the Crusader castle in the city, killing 10 people, among them seven officers, and wounding dozens. Security forces killed those gunmen after a long standoff.

Update: Officials revise the toll to six killed and 28 injured

Updated 15:39 UTC, Oct. 23, 2026. Jordan's Public Security Directorate said at least six people were killed and 28 injured in the church shooting in Karak, CNN reported. State media had originally reported seven people killed. A spokesperson for the directorate confirmed at least six dead after Friday's attack on the Hamoud church, and Jordanian sources had earlier told Al Jazeera that seven people had been killed.

King Abdullah described the shooting as a terrorist act and vowed a harsh response. "The blood of Jordanians is precious, and we will strike those who transgress against this country with an iron fist," the king said on X.

CNN identified the church as St. George's Greek Orthodox Church in Hmood, a predominantly Christian town in northern Karak, about 90 miles south of Amman. Witness Tamer Halasa told Al-Mamlaka that more than 150 people were inside and outside the church, that one attacker was carrying an AK-47 rifle, and that the shooting continued for several minutes. Security camera footage circulating on social media showed three gunmen opening fire on the street before heading toward the church, CNN reported. The unidentified gunmen were still being pursued, the security agency said.

At least seven people were killed and 10 others injured on Friday when gunmen opened fire during a funeral at a church in Jordan's Karak governorate, the state owned television station Al-Mamlaka reported.

Two gunmen got out of a vehicle and opened fire during a funeral procession at the Hamoud church in Karak, the station said. Security forces deployed at the church and were pursuing the suspects, it reported.

Fired on mourners for several minutes

Khaled Burqan, a man who had been attending the funeral, told Al-Mamlaka that dozens of people had been attending the funeral. He said two men, one carrying a rifle and another carrying a pistol, opened fire on the mourners for several minutes.

Reuters reported the same account, citing the station, in a first report published at 12:04 UTC on Friday. CNN also reported at least seven people killed in the attack, citing Jordanian state media. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, and Jordanian authorities did not say who was responsible for the shooting.

The funeral and the first reports

Al-Mamlaka, Jordan's state owned television station, was the first source of the news, and both Reuters and CNN built their first reports on its account. The station said the two gunmen got out of a vehicle and opened fire during the funeral procession at the Hamoud church. A funeral procession brings mourners out of the church and into the open, and the witness account describes the shooting lasting several minutes. Security forces deployed at the church and were pursuing the suspects, the station reported.

A rare attack in Jordan

Such attacks are extremely rare in Jordan, Reuters reported. The country is relatively stable, although Reuters said it has been increasingly targeted by Iranian attacks this year, since the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February.

Christians make up a minority of Jordan's population. The country is also home to several biblical sites that attract Christian pilgrims from around the world, which is one reason an attack on a church funeral drew attention well beyond Karak within hours of the first reports.

What is not yet known

The first reports did not name the people who were killed or injured, and officials had not said whether any suspect had been caught. Al-Mamlaka said security forces were pursuing the suspects after the shooting, and Reuters updated its report at about 13:06 UTC without a change to the toll of at least seven dead and 10 injured.

No group had claimed the attack in the first reports, and authorities released no motive. The Orbit Post will update this article as Jordanian officials release the names of the victims and the result of the search for the gunmen.