Multiple gunmen brutally attacked a church in Jordan on Friday in the middle of a funeral, killing at least seven people and wounding 34 others - in what is one of the worst terror attacks on Christians in the country's modern history.
The Jordanian government quickly condemned the act as terrorism, and authorities are reportedly seeking the attackers amid an investigation.
It happened in Jordan’s Karak region, south of the capital of Amman, at St. George Orthodox Church - in a region which has been home to a sizeable ancient Christian community for some 2,000 years.
According to a Reuters description of the terror assault:
Interior Minister Mazin Al Farrayeh said the attack had been carried out by "extremists", but that it was too early to tell whether they had any links to known groups either inside or outside Jordan. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
A video aired on Jordan's state-owned Al-Mamlaka television station that appeared to be from a security camera mounted on the church showed three people firing at it from a sidewalk and hiding behind trees and a low wall. The video showed the attackers then running towards the church's entrance. Reuters was able to verify the video from the entry path and wall surrounding the church, as well as other details.
Some reports have been suggesting an ISIS or other takfiri or jihadist association of the attackers, but there's been nothing official yet as to their identities.
The attack happened for several minutes, with people at the entrance of the church seen scattering, and with some immediately collapsing to the ground after being hit amid a hail of bullets. The attackers appeared to go inside the church, where the massacre continued. Around 150 to 200 people were at the church at the time.
مشاهد من كاميرا مراقبة لتنفيذ الهجوم الذي استهدف كنيسة في الكرك https://t.co/3F2DUewLsH
— العربية عاجل (@AlArabiya_Brk) October 23, 2026
Jordan's King Abdullah soon after said the killers would be apprehended and punished "with an iron fist".
"The terrorist attack against Karak will be met with the harshest retaliation. Those who delude themselves into thinking that they can divide Jordanians with their bullets have no chance in the face of our unity," he said in a statement.
St. George Church is under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Orthodox Christianity in Jordan is so old and rooted that it predates the birth of Islam by centuries, going back to Biblical times. Indigenous Christians there have over the centuries spoken and worshipped in ancient languages including Arabic, Greek, and Aramaic.
The US ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz called the attack on Jordanian Christians a "depraved and brutal attack on a house of worship."
7 dead, 10 injured in attack on Orthodox funeral in Jordan (+VIDEO) https://t.co/ucnQn83pLb Gunmen opened fire on mourners inside a church during a funeral in central Jordan, killing at least seven people and wounding ten more. https://t.co/5bGB0FJsSz
— Orthodox Christianity (@Orthodoxy2019) October 23, 2026
In neighboring Syria, Iraq, the West Bank, and Gaza - ancient Christian communities have also suffered attacks, along with being squeezed by fast-moving geopolitical events.
US policy in the region has not been friendly to Middle East Christians, and Washington continues to barely acknowledge their presence. For example, throughout the Syria proxy war to oust Assad, the US covertly armed and funded groups which openly declared they seek to exterminate Christians, Alawites, Shiites, and other non-Sunni religious minorities.
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This book is the result of years of Syrian Christians warning what's coming. We collected the interviews from 2015-2020. Last words to me of a priest in Damascus while we sat on Straight Street: "We are a church of martyrs & we will stay." #Syria is home. https://t.co/JsjacQwNJO
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