Amman, Jordan — Jordanian security forces arrested three men Monday for an attack on a Greek Orthodox church that killed nine people and injured more than two dozen.
The Public Security Directorate said the three suspects were arrested following a dawn shooting and all three were injured. No members of the security forces were injured during the dawn operation in Karak governorate, south of the Jordanian capital, Amman. Karak is home to a minority Christian population.
The attack on the Greek Orthodox church in the village of Hammoud in Karak took place on Friday during a funeral. Three men are said to have taken part in the attack.
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No responsibility has yet been claimed and no armed group has been accused of this attack.
Jordanian Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya identified the three men as those responsible for the attack.
“The security services fulfilled their duty, which made it possible to arrest those who committed this terrorist act,” he said in a telephone interview with state television Al-Mamlaka. “They put up fierce resistance to security forces, but were eventually overpowered and taken into custody, after being seriously injured.”
Alaa Al Sukhni / REUTERS 
He added that there were “three individuals involved; they were identified at the start of the terrorist incident and the security services used all means at their disposal to apprehend them.”
The leadership declared that “terrorism has no place among us” and that the three men had met “their fair fate”, according to the Reuters news agency. The leadership did not name the suspects or indicate possible links to Islamist militant groups, Reuters added.
King Abdullah II ordered authorities to respond with an “iron fist” against what he called the outlaws of Islam and anyone who tries to undermine the unity of the Jordanian people.
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