A survivor of a deadly attack on a church in Jordan has described people crawling for their lives and watching as gunmen returned to fire more bullets at the dying – as well as at the church’s facade.
The death toll rose to nine on Saturday, a day after the attack, with nearly 40 others injured.
The motivation for the shooting at a Greek Orthodox church in Karak, about 90 kilometers south of the capital Amman, was still unknown. Karak is home to a minority Christian population.
No responsibility has yet been claimed and no armed group has been accused of this attack, which the Jordanian government has described as a terrorist act.
King Abdullah II ordered authorities to respond with an “iron fist” against what he called the outlaws of Islam and anyone trying to undermine the unity of the Jordanian people.
Friday’s attack happened as people had gathered for a funeral. Some people were chatting outside the church when they heard what sounded like an engine backfiring.
“All of a sudden, three masked men appeared, armed with automatic weapons, and started shooting indiscriminately at those of us outside,” recalls witness Saed al-Halaseh.
And “they didn’t just take the first victims. They came back and shot everyone again. They came back to finish off those who had already been hit,” he said.
“Even then, they weren’t finished; they came and stood here, shooting at the front of the church, this part right here,” he added.
Al-Halaseh described how people he knew were shot in the head or back while others tried to flee. He fell to the ground and crawled behind a nearby car, which he said saved him.
Jordan, and particularly Karak, is considered a symbol of religious coexistence, al-Halaseh said, although Israeli Jewish visitors to the kingdom regularly report that Jordanian authorities have banned the entry of Jewish religious objects such as phylacteries (tefillin) or a tallit.
“The sense of security we once had, the very foundation we grew up with, has sadly disappeared,” he added. “They were simply mourning at a funeral. I can’t understand what the perpetrators could have wanted from them. I don’t believe any religion in the world can condone what happened. It was truly a massacre.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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