Gunmen kill six at church funeral in Jordan

Jordan's Public Security Directorate revised the toll from Friday's shooting at a church funeral in Karak to six people killed and 28 injured, after state television had initially reported seven killed and 10 injured, and a manhunt for the two gunmen was under way.

Why it matters: Attacks of this kind are extremely rare in Jordan, and with no claim of responsibility and no official attribution yet, the shooting tests the stability of a state already repeatedly targeted from abroad this year.

Data as of Update, October 23, 2026, 11:08 ET: Deutsche Welle report of October 23, 2026, read in full, reporting Jordan's Public Security Directorate for the revised toll of six killed and 28 injured; AP reporting carried the same revised figures, and local reports initially carried seven killed before the directorate's revision. Earlier: Reuters report of October 23, 2026, read in full via Northland News Radio, reporting Jordanian state television Al-Mamlaka and the Public Security Directorate for the initial toll of seven killed and 10 injured at the Hamoud church in Karak; the BBC and Arab News carried the same state media account. No claim of responsibility had been made and Jordanian authorities had not attributed the attack as of the reports. Developing item.

Latest: Jordan’s Public Security Directorate revised the toll to six people killed and 28 injured, Deutsche Welle reported, after state television Al-Mamlaka had initially reported seven killed and 10 injured. Between 150 and 200 mourners were at the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint George in the village of Hmoud, south of Karak city, for a funeral that had begun about 30 minutes earlier when the two gunmen arrived by car and opened fire, one with a rifle and one with a pistol, and the attackers fled as security forces deployed and began a manhunt. Government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani called the shooting a heinous attack, King Abdullah II issued a statement on the attack, and Prime Minister Jafar Hassan was to chair a Security Council meeting with all ministers, while no group had claimed responsibility.

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, via Reuters. Two gunmen got out of a vehicle and opened fire on a funeral procession at the Hamoud church in Karak, one carrying a rifle and the other a pistol, a man attending the funeral told the station, and security forces deployed at the church and were pursuing the suspects. There was no immediate claim of responsibility and Jordanian authorities did not say who was responsible, in a country where such attacks are extremely rare.

Gunmen kill six at church funeral in Jordan

Sources