Jordanian man shot dead and Israeli wounded near embassy in Amman

A Jordanian man was shot dead and an Israeli man was wounded at the Israeli embassy in Amman yesterday evening.

Hala Akhbar, a news site linked to Jordan’s military, said the incident included a stabbing. It said the Israeli man was in an unstable condition and the Jordanian died after suffering critical gunshot injuries.

A security official confirmed a Jordanian had been killed and an Israeli wounded, but provided no further details.

There was a heavier than usual Jordanian security presence near the embassy in Rabiyeh, an affluent residential area of the Jordanian capital.

Israel’s foreign ministry had no immediate comment.

The incident came amid mounting tensions between Israel and the Muslim world over metal detectors installed by Israel at the Al Aqsa Mosque.

Israel and Jordan are bound by a peace treaty agreed to in 1994, but tensions have been high in recent days after Israel installed metal detectors at the mosque compound in East Jerusalem.

On Friday, thousands of Jordanians took to the streets of Amman after the weekly prayers to denounce the Israeli measures at the compound, the third holiest site in Islam, which is also revered by Jews as Temple Mount.

Jordan is the official custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.

A crowd estimated at more than 8,000 turned out for a demonstration called by Islamist movements and leftist parties.

Many of Jordan’s seven million citizens are of Palestinian origin, they or their parents having been expelled or fled to Jordan in the fighting that accompanied the creation of Israel in 1948.

Israel shut off the mosque compound on July 14 after three Palestinians attacked and killed two police officers near by.

The attackers fled into the compound where they were shot dead by Israeli security forces.The compound was reopened two days later after metal detectors were installed at its entrances.