Security forces arrest suspects of deadly church attack in Jordan

Jordan said late Monday that its air force has struck military hideouts in southern Syria after determining that suspects linked to last week's deadly church attack were hiding there.

Jordanian forces said the deadly attack on a funeral at a Greek Orthodox church was linked to "terrorist groups" hiding in Syria.

The assault left nine dead and 40 others were injured.

Jordan's armed forces said the strikes on southeastern Syria was carried out in coordination with Damascus.

But Syria gave a different account, saying it had launched an investigation into the Jordanian attacks.

A health official told Syria's state news agency that at least five civilians, including women and children, were killed as a result of strikes carried out by Jordan, Reuters reported.

Jordan also arrested three men during a pre-dawn raid on their hideout in the Karak governorate early Monday morning.

Jordanian security forces earlier on Monday morning arrested three men in connection with last week's deadly attack at the church that killed nine people and injured 40 others.

Officials said the arrests took place following a dawn shootout with the armed men who were discovered hiding in an abandoned house in the Karak governorate, located some 120 kilometers (75 miles) southwest of the capital, Amman.

All three suspects were wounded in the operation, but Jordanian security forces reported no casualties.

"The security services have fulfilled their duties, resulting in the capture of those who carried out this terrorist act," said Jordanian Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya in a phone interview with state broadcaster Al-Mamlaka on Monday.

"[The suspects] put up fierce resistance but were ultimately subdued and taken into custody, having sustained severe injuries."

He added that there were "three individuals involved" who were "identified early on in the wake of the terrorist incident" and that the security services had "employed all the means at their disposal to apprehend them."

King Abdullah II of Jordan had ordered authorities to respond with an "iron fist" against anyone attempting to undermine the unity of the Jordanian people.

"We vowed the terrorists would not escape punishment, and no proponent of dark ideologies that divide Jordanians will be tolerated," he added in a statement on Monday, following the arrests, which relatives of the victims had said brought some relief.

"Despite the profound and immense tragedy, what happened today has eased our grief — and the grief of the Jordanian people — not just for us, the families of the martyrs," one relative, himself a survivor of the attack, told Al-Mamlaka.

There has been no claim of responsibility for Friday's deadly attack and Jordan's Public Security Directorate has not named the suspects or publicly ​identified possible affiliations with any Islamist militant groups.

Attacks on Christian minorities are very rare in Jordan, a relatively stable middle-eastern state which is a close ally of the United States and which maintains diplomatic and military relations with neighboring Israel.