[USA Today via Wretchard] Jordan's King Abdullah ordered security forces on Saturday to respond with an "iron fist" as authorities searched for gunmen who opened fire and killed eight people during a church funeral service.
The assailants fired for several minutes in broad daylight at a Greek Orthodox church in Karak governorate on Friday, Oct. 23, and also wounded 40 people in the rare attack on Jordan's Christian minority.
Security was stepped up at malls, foreign embassies and other locations across the kingdom, the U.S. Embassy in Amman said.
NO IMMEDIATE CLAIM OF RESPONSIBILITY
Abdullah condemned the "despicable terrorist act" as he chaired a National Security Council meeting, and said there was no room for leniency when it comes to the lives of Jordanians, the royal court said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in the kingdom, a major partner with the U.S. in the fight against militant groups. Authorities there say they have foiled several Islamist plots in recent years.
Officials have said it is too early to determine whether the attackers had links to known groups inside or outside Jordan.
"A massacre, a massacre in every sense of the word," said Tarek Ammarin at a hospital where the wounded were being treated. A relative of Ammarin's was injured in the attack.
Police patrolled on Saturday outside Saint George's Greek Orthodox Church, about 75 miles southwest of the capital Amman, Reuters video showed.
# id) ?>
|
