Seven people have been killed in an attack on a funeral in central Jordan, officials have said.
At least 34 others were injured as gunmen opened fire on a church in Hmoud, in the Karak governorate on Friday.
The unidentified gunmen are reported to have arrived in a car, entered the church and opened fire before fleeing. No-one has admitted carrying out the attack.
In a news conference, Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya said authorities were working to apprehend the perpetrators which he described as a “group of extremists”.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II, said the authorities would “confront the terrorist act that targeted Karak with the harshest penalties”.
Initial reports indicated seven people had been killed in the attack. A government spokesperson later said six people had died, before officials again revised the death toll to seven.
CCTV footage, verified by the BBC, appears to shows three gunmen making their way from a road toward the church.
Two of the attackers are seen making their way on to what appears to be a vehicle entrance to the church grounds, before retreating briefly and returning with a third man. All three appear to be armed with handguns.
Separate footage believed to be from the aftermath of the attack appears to show several dead and wounded bodies on the ground amid some chaotic scenes.
A witness estimated the attack lasted about 15 minutes and believed the attackers had used “automatic weapons”.
“I heard something as if a war had just started,” he said. “I thought it was an electrical short circuit. I looked, people lying on the ground, wounded.”
“The scene was catastrophic.”
A woman in the church said explosions rang out seconds after a prayer.
“The sound of machine guns started, and the sound of glass. We began to realise that something was happening.
“People started screaming.
The witness described how the situation “continued to escalate for 10 continuous minutes”. Once she ran out the church she said “bodies were all in the courtyards”.
Al-Faraya added that the incident was “painful and horrific” and “unparalleled in the history of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,” during his news conference.
