JORDAN RULER MAKES ‘IRON FIST’ PROMISE
Jordan’s King Abdullah vows to respond with ‘iron fist’ as authorities ring-fence the area after gunmen’s deadly attack
King Abdullah reacts to Karak shootout that claimed 10 lives at tourist site,
KARAK, JORDAN // The mood was sombre and security tight in the southern Jordanian city of Karak yesterday after an hours-long attack that killed 10 people on Sunday.
There was a heavy police presence around the city’s crusader-era castle – its most famous landmark – where on Sunday gunmen hid while shooting at police and passers-by. The castle was cordoned off.
Thirty- four people were injured in the attack, which began early in the afternoon and lasted late into the night. Four policemen, three members of the gendarmerie, two Jordanian civilians and a female Canadian tourist were killed.
Security killed four of the attackers who were hiding in the castle, the authorities said on Sunday. The attackers were carrying a large cache of automatic weapons and ammunition.
The attack raised anxiety in a country that promotes itself as an oasis of security in a tur- bulent region. Yesterday, King Abdullah said Jordan would “respond with an iron fist to assaults or any attempts to tamper with the kingdom’s security and safety of its people”, according to the official Petra news agency. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack but the authorities are investigating the identity of the gunmen and their affiliations, if any.
The violence began when a police patrol responded to reports of an explosion at a four- bedroom apartment in the town of Al Qatraneh, near Karak.
When the police arrived, they found the apartment’s windows shattered. Three men who were in the flat claimed that a gas cylinder had exploded, said a witness. “But it seems they were experimenting with explosives which injured one of the men,” the witness said.
The men opened fire, killing a policemen. They then drove to Karak where they attacked a police station before hiding in the castle, from where they fired on police and passers-by.
Interior minister Salameh Hammad said there were several tourists in the castle at the time, including the Canadian woman who was killed. She was identified as Linda Vatcher, 62, a retired elementary- school teacher. Her son was also injured by the attackers.
It was not clear when the gunmen were joined by the fourth attacker killed at the castle or if any more attackers had been arrested or were still on the loose.
On Sunday night police found suicide belts, large amounts of explosives and other weapons at the apartment in Al Qatraneh, which was rented by three of the attackers last month.
Residents of the area who had met the three men said they prayed at a nearby mosque and seemed to be very devout.
“One even used to cry during prayers,” said one resident.
He said he heard an explosion at the apartment on Sunday before police arrived on the scene.
The resident said one of the men used to wear a khimar – a long head covering – to disguise himself.
The unfurnished flat stood mostly empty yesterday, with just a few blankets and blue paper masks scattered on the floor, along with pieces of broken wood from Sunday’s explosion. Black slippers had been left behind in one room, and skimmed milk boxes in another. There were traces of blood on the stairs leading to the apartment in the two-storey building.
In Karak, residents rushed to donate blood yesterday as supplies ran out at hospitals. The attack came just weeks after three US special forces soldiers were shot dead at a military base in the southern city of Al Jafer by a member of the Jordanian security forces. The circumstances of the shooting are being investigated. Jordan has worked hard to avoid the chaos that has engulfed the region. But the Soufan Group, which provides security intelligence services to governments and multinational organisations, yesterday warned that Syria’s neighbours were beginning to show increasing signs of stress and instability.
“If countries such as Jordan slide into a pattern of instability, the consequences – both regionally and globally – will continue,” it said.
Sayel Maaytah, 62, who leads a military retiree association facing the crusader castle, said he was confident that Jordan’s security forces could defend the country.
“But the region is boiling and we need to be armed,” he said.