Six killed and 28 injured in attack during funeral in Jordan’s Karak

The Public Security Directorate said on Friday that six people were killed and 28 wounded in an attack by unidentified assailants during a funeral in Jordan's Karak governorate.

It comes after state-owned media earlier reported that seven people were killed.

Authorities said an investigation was under way and that its findings would be announced as they became available.

Security forces had deployed at the church and were pursuing the suspects, according to television station Al-Mamlaka.

It said two gunmen got out of a vehicle and opened fire during a funeral procession at the Hamoud church in Karak.

Khaled Burqan, a man who had been attending the funeral, told Al-Mamlaka that dozens of people had been attending the funeral and two men — one carrying a rifle and another carrying a pistol — opened fire on them for several minutes.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack and Jordanian authorities did not say who was responsible.

Such attacks are extremely rare in Jordan, which is relatively stable but has been increasingly targeted by Iranian attacks this year since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February.

Christians make up a minority of Jordan's population though the country is home to several biblical sites that attract Christian pilgrims from around the world.