HAMOUD, Jordan
\nJordan\u2019s King Abdullah ordered security forces on \u200cSaturday to respond with an \u201ciron fist\u201d as authorities searched for gunmen who opened fire and killed nine people during a church funeral service.
\nThe assailants fired for several minutes in broad daylight at the church in Karak governorate on Friday, \u200band also wounded 40 people in the rare attack on Jordan\u2019s Christian minority.
\nSecurity \u200bwas stepped up at malls, foreign embassies and other locations across the country, the US embassy in Amman said.
\n\u2018A SENSE OF PANIC TOOK HOLD\u2019
\nA priest described how \u200bhe and others ordered people to get to the ground at Saint George\u2019s Greek Orthodox church, \u200babout 120 km (75 miles) southwest of the capital, Amman.
\n\u201cA sense of panic took hold among those present,\u201d Theodoros Soueiss told Reuters.
\n\u201cThe gunfire was indiscriminate, and you never knew where a bullet might land.\u201d
\nKing Abdullah condemned the \u201cdespicable terrorist \u200bact\u201d as he chaired a National Security Council meeting and said there was no room for leniency when \u200bit comes to the lives of Jordanians, the royal court said.
\nSuch attacks are highly unusual in Jordan, a relatively stable state in the Middle East, though \u200cauthorities there say they \u2060have foiled several Islamist plots in recent years.
\nThere was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in the kingdom, a major partner with the US in the fight against militant groups.
\nOfficials have said it is too early to determine whether the attackers had links to known groups inside or outside Jordan.
\n\u201cA massacre, a massacre in every \u200bsense of the word,\u201d \u200bsaid Tarek Ammarin \u2060at a hospital where the wounded were being treated. A relative of Ammarin\u2019s was injured in the attack.
\nChristians make up a minority of Jordan\u2019s \u200bpopulation. The country is home to several biblical sites that attract Christian \u200bpilgrims from \u2060around the world.
\nJordan has been among the US allies in the Middle East to be hit by Iranian attacks this year after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February.
\nBahjat al-Rushda, mayor \u2060of \u200bShihan village in Karak, joined a long list of officials \u200bcondemning what they called an attack by extremist terrorists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HAMOUD, Jordan Jordan\u2019s King Abdullah ordered security forces on \u200cSaturday to respond with an \u201ciron fist\u201d as authorities searched for gunmen who opened fire and killed nine people during a church funeral service. The assailants fired for several minutes in broad daylight at the church in Karak governorate on Friday, \u200band also wounded 40 people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574152,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-574141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n