Jordan says security officer killed in Amman in stabbing terror attack

Jordanian authorities say a security officer was stabbed to death in the capital Amman earlier, calling it a “terrorist attack.”

“The Public Security Directorate mourned the martyrdom of Corporal Jawad Ali Khalaf Al-Salaytah, who was killed in a cowardly terrorist attack,” the directorate says in a statement.

Another officer was injured in the incident, it adds.

Authorities say the attack took place in front of the Sri Lankan embassy, where the victim was stabbed with a “sharp object.”

The officer was rushed to hospital but later died from his injuries, the directorate says.

A nearby police patrol responded immediately and arrested the attacker, it adds.

The second officer wounded in the incident sustained injuries to the face as he tried to intervene and is in a stable condition.

Security agencies were investigating, the directorate says.

The attack comes days after gunmen killed nine people and wounded 25 when they stormed a Greek Orthodox church in Karak governorate.

On Tuesday, three men were charged with terrorism-related offenses over that attack.

Authorities described the suspects in the church attack as followers of a hardline Islamist ideology.

The violence shocked Jordan, where Christians make up around three percent of its Muslim-majority population.

Under Jordan’s anti-terrorism law, a conviction on the most serious charge — carrying out terrorist acts resulting in death — is punishable by death.