Gunmen Kill Nine at Funeral in Karak, Jordan; Patriarch Visits Grieving Families

On Oct. 23, three men burst into St. George Greek Orthodox Church in the Jordanian town of Hammud, in Karak, while a funeral was under way. They opened fire. Nine people died and more than 30 were wounded.

Security forces caught the three suspects on Oct. 26 after a gun battle. The same day, Jordan's armed forces hit ISIS camps in Syria. The Jordanian military said 20 militants died in the strikes. Syrian officials said seven civilians, three of them children, were among the dead.

It remains unclear whether the attackers worked directly with the Islamic State or were only inspired by its ideology. Sean Yom, a Temple University scholar of Jordanian politics, told America Magazine that this question matters. He noted that the air strikes suggest Amman suspects at least some link.

Yom called the assault a rare case of militants deliberately choosing a Christian congregation as their target. Christians make up about 2 percent of Jordan's people. He said the shock reached Muslim Jordanians too, who have long seen Christians as a protected part of national life. Religious and civic leaders of all faiths condemned the killings quickly.

King Abdullah II visited the wounded in Karak hospital on the day of the attack. He called it "an attack on all Jordanians," according to America Magazine. On Nov. 2, speaking at the opening of Parliament, he said terrorists had no place in the Jordanian family. He also warned that the country would not bend under such pressure.

Yom expects the attack to prove an exception, though he allowed that nothing is certain. He pointed to Jordan's strong security services and its role as a regional base for international institutions. The country also sits under heavy pressure from neighbouring wars, including the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and the crisis in Gaza.

Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, with clergy of the Patriarchate, visited the victims' families, as Orthodox Times reported on Nov. 8. He offered condolences and promised that the Patriarchate would stay beside them. He said prayers for the dead would continue at the Holy Sepulchre and in churches everywhere.

The Patriarch described the Church as one family that hardship cannot divide. He held up faith in the Resurrection as the ground of Christian hope. He closed by praying that God (Alohim) would give the families comfort, strength and patience, and would protect Jordan and its people. The Patriarch of Serbia had earlier sent his own message of condolence to Jerusalem.

Compiled from the reports below. Read the originals.