Jordan attacks militants in Syria linked to last week’s church attack, state media says

AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan’s air force carried out strikes against groups in Syria in retaliation for Friday’s attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Karak that killed nine people, Jordanian state media reported Monday.

He said the operation “resulted in the death and injury of many members of these terrorist groups and the destruction of a number of their vehicles.” He did not specify who these groups were or the precise location of the strikes.

Syrian state television reported reports of civilian casualties following Jordanian airstrikes south of the village of al-Masmiyah in the southern province of Daraa.

Earlier Monday, Jordanian authorities arrested three men involved in last week’s attack, which also injured more than two dozen people. The arrests followed a predawn shooting, and all three men were injured, officials said.

The attack hit the Greek Orthodox church Friday during a funeral in Karak, about 90 kilometers south of the capital, Amman. Karak is home to a minority Christian population.

The attack shocked the nation and Jordan declared three days of mourning for the victims. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack; the motive of the attackers remained unknown.

Later on Monday, the Public Security Directorate identified the three arrested men as brothers Hazzah Zaidan Mohammad and Mishal Zaidan Mohammad, as well as their brother-in-law Ahmad Sami Hussein. All three are Jordanian; they were arrested in Karak, south of Amman.

The agency head called the gunmen “takfiri,” a term used for Sunni militants, but said they were not linked to any organized groups.

“They only represent themselves,” Major General Obaidallah Abd Rabbo Al-Maayta told a news conference. He also said a large cache of ammunition was found in the abandoned house where Jordanian forces apprehended the men.

Jordanian Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya said the attack on the three men was the result of a “terrorist and extremist way of thinking.”

“If this way of thinking is not resolved, we will see incidents like this again,” he told reporters.

King Abdullah II of Jordan had ordered authorities to respond with an “iron fist” against what he called the outlaws of Islam and anyone who attempted to undermine the unity of the Jordanian people.

“We vowed that terrorists will not escape punishment, and that no supporter of the dark ideologies that divide Jordanians will be tolerated,” he said in a statement Monday.

Relatives of the victims said the arrests brought them some relief.

“Despite the deep and immense tragedy, what happened today has eased our grief – and that of the Jordanian people – not only for us, the families of the martyrs,” Khaled al-Borqan, himself a survivor of the attack and relative of three of those killed, told Al-Mamlaka.

“Despite the sadness and pain, the news brought us joy,” Fares Halaseh, uncle of one of the victims and a survivor of the attack, told the television channel.

But the pain remains, he added. “We will not forget this agony in the years to come.”