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Gunmen Kill at Least 8 at Jordan Church Funeral

Is this part of a jihadist war on Christians or an assault on national unity designed to divide Jordanians?

15 hours ago·Updated 55 minutes ago

Gunmen Kill at Least 8 at Jordan Church Funeral

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Above: Greek Orthodox priests walk at the site of a shooting at a church in Hammoud, Jordan, on Oct. 23. Image credit: AFP/Getty Images

The Facts

Gunmen opened fire during a funeral at the Hammoud Greek Orthodox Church in southern Jordan's Karak governorate on Friday, killing at least eight people and wounding 40 others, officials said. More than 100 people had gathered for the procession.
The Washington Post
Arab News
Reuters
Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya said a group of extremists carried out the shooting, adding that it was too early to determine whether they had links to known groups inside or outside Jordan. No group claimed responsibility as a manhunt continued.
CBS News
Reuters
King Abdullah II visited Karak hours after the shooting and vowed the "harshest retaliation," saying Jordan would strike "with an iron fist" against those threatening the country. The royal court posted images of him visiting the wounded in a hospital.
DW
Reuters
FOX News
Footage aired on Jordanian state television showed two gunmen with pistols firing toward the church before a third man carrying a rifle joined them and all three ran toward the entrance. Officials revised the death toll, with reports first placing it at six and then seven.
NBC News
BBC News
The Washington Times
Jordan declared three days of national mourning after the shooting, which the government described as terrorism. Prime Minister Jafar Hassan described it as a result of "takfiri ideology," referring to Islamic extremist groups that believe other Muslims to be apostates.
FOX News
The New York Times
The Associated Press
Such attacks are rare in Jordan, where Christians number about 300,000, roughly 2% of the population of some 11.5 million. In 2016, an ISIL attack in Karak killed 10 people, including security officers and a Canadian tourist.
CNN
Al Jazeera

Sources Split

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The Spin

Government-critical narrative

An attack on mourners at a Christian funeral fits a long pattern of extremists treating the Middle East’s minority faiths as targets, and not even Jordan, praised for its tolerance, could prevent this one. Western governments have been too reluctant to name the ideology behind such violence. Protecting the region’s Christians takes direct confrontation with jihadism.

International Christian Concern

ADL

Pro-government narrative

Jordan’s Christians are an old part of one national family, and shooting at a funeral aims to split a society that has long lived together. Calling it a war on Christians does the attackers’ work. Regional war and hardship in the south feed such violence, and the answer lies in national solidarity and lawful security that does not turn neighbours into suspects.

PIME Asia News

The Christian Science Monitor