DOMINANT ANGLE
Moscow qualifies the Karak shooting as a terrorist act and is particularly focused on the toll, the escape of the assailants and the manhunt conducted by Jordanian forces.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Seven dead and 34 injured according to Vedomosti, citing The National and Jordanian Public Security; TASS, citing Al-Mamlaka, reports about a dozen injured.
- 02
According to RT, three attackers (two pistols, one assault rifle) fired for about 15 minutes at the Saint-Georges Church in Hammoud before fleeing.
- 03
Minister Mazen al-Faraya mentions a "group of extremists" still on the run; no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
ANALYSIS
Moscow, October 24, 2026. The Russian press is treating the attack on Hammoud, a village in the Karak governorate, as a terrorist act and is focusing on the toll and the manhunt. TASS, from Beirut, cited a source from the Jordanian security service on the Al-Mamlaka channel on Friday, October 23: seven dead and about a dozen injured, some in critical condition. According to this source, men fired from a vehicle at people gathered near the church; two masked shooters targeted the crowd for several minutes before fleeing, without entering the building where more than 150 people were. The security forces have blocked all access roads to Karak and are searching the neighborhoods.
Vedomosti, which relies on The National, gives a heavier toll: seven dead and 34 injured, including 27 hospitalized, according to General Abdallah al-Maaytah, head of Public Security. The newspaper specifies that Karak is located about 100 km south of Amman and that the region has a Christian minority. It reports the words of King Abdallah II, who promises a "firmest rejection" and writes on X that those who believe they can divide Jordanians with bullets "have no chance" against their unity. Queen Rania speaks of a "heinous crime against the faithful". Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya mentions an extremist group and assures that the government is doing everything to arrest them. There has been no claim of responsibility.
RT in English is the most detailed and darkest. It locates the attack at the Saint-Georges church, talks about three assailants, two armed with pistols and one with an assault rifle, and a shooting lasting about 15 minutes before a "unhindered" escape. It describes surveillance footage showing the dying being finished off, and quotes the minister: an attack "without precedent in the history of the Hashemite Kingdom". According to RT, Hammoud is being flooded with security forces.
The three media outlets agree on the essentials: an act targeting Christian civilians during a funeral, fleeing perpetrators, and no official lead. The discrepancies concern the numbers (ten injured for TASS, 34 for RT and Vedomosti), the duration of the shooting (a few minutes or fifteen), and the number of shooters, without the articles arbitrating between them.
