Knifeman attacks tourists at Roman ruins in Jordan
FOUR tourists were among eight people stabbed yesterday morning at an archaeological site in northern Jordan. Also hurt were a tour guide and a policeman who tried to intervene.
The country’s Public Security Directorate confirmed the attacker had been arrested. His motive was unknown.
However, an anonymous source in the security services told the AFP news agency the attacker was identified as Moustafa Abourouis, 22, and that he “came from the Palestinian refugee camp of Souf ”.
Jordan’s minister of health confirmed that three of the tourists attacked at Jerash were Mexican and the fourth is Swiss. The victims were taken to a nearby hospital and two, who sustained serious injuries, were later taken to Amman Medical City, a hospital complex.
The historic city of Jerash is the site of Roman ruins including the 11m (36ft) high Arch of Hadrian, a major tourist attraction. Uniformed police patrol the area where there is also a plain-clothes security presence.
The attack is Jordan’s most significant security incident in three years. In December 2016, 14 people were killed in Karak castle, a crusader fort, after a group of militants stormed the site and engaged security forces in a shoot-out. Five of the attackers were also killed.
The country, a staunch ally of the US and the UK, has a strong security infrastructure that keeps close tabs on social media and Islamist groups but Jordan has the highest number of citizens, per capita, to join Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and other ultra-violent factions in Syria and Iraq.
Many of those who have returned to Jordan, which borders Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the West Bank and Israel, have been charged and imprisoned.
Over the past nine years of Syrian conflict, authorities have been vocal about the strain on resources involved in maintaining security both internally and on its frontiers.
Without oil or other resources, Jordan relies on tourism. After attacks in 2013-14, visitor numbers and revenue did drop sharply but Jerash had seen a welcome rise in visitors for 2019.