The brutal terrorist attack took place in broad daylight at the St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church in Karak, located southwest of the capital, Amman.
A video shared on X shows three armed assailants firing their weapons as they approach the church.
A second, far more disturbing video shows the gunmen chasing down and shooting members of the church service.
While Christians once made up 12 percent of Jordan’s population, today they account for less than 2 percent due to religious discrimination, threats and violence.
Following the attack, the terrorists sent a chilling message: “Allahu Akbar, and glory belongs to Allah. We have brutally punished the Christians of Karak in revenge for Islam and the Islamic State. Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!”
Jordan’s King Abdullah visited wounded survivors hours after the attack and promised that the perpetrators would be punished “with an iron fist.”
The attack has been roundly condemned by leaders in the surrounding area.
Ahmed al-Tayeb in Cairo, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, offered his condolences to the victim’s families and called the shooting a “heinous terrorist attack.”
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein “affirmed Iraq’s solidarity with Jordan in the face of terrorism. ”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack as “especially heinous,” and called “for all those responsible to be found and to be held to account.”
Three days of national mourning have been proclaimed in Jordan.