By AbdelHadi Ramahi
HAMOUD, Jordan, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Prayer services had just started at a church in Jordan on Friday when Nasser al-Burqan heard what he thought was an exploding air conditioner. Then the blasts kept coming. He soon realised it was gunfire.
Some people ran away. He said others, some bleeding, tried to hide in their place of worship where a funeral for his relative had been taking place. Word spread among those gathered that there were fatalities.
When the shooting finally stopped after several minutes, Burqan said he got a good look at the assailants behind what Jordanian authorities described as an act of extremist terrorism that killed eight people.
“When everything finally quietened down, I looked out the window behind me and I saw two — one was masked, the other was not, he was carrying a handgun,” said Burqan, a lawyer.
He said one of the attackers, standing about 2 meters away, pointed the handgun at him and opened fire. Some shattered glass left blood on his face. He said he told people who wanted to take him for medical treatment he was fine.
SON SHOT IN THE LEG
A short while later his son, who also attended the mass, called him to say he had been shot in the leg and was being treated in hospital.
The attack at the Greek Orthodox Hamoud church in Karak governorate, about 120 km (75 miles) southwest of the capital Amman, shocked the community, part of Jordan’s Christian minority.
Such attacks are rare in Jordan, although authorities in the US-allied kingdom say they have repeatedly foiled plots by Islamist militants in recent years.
Jordan's King Abdullah, a US partner in the fight against militant Islamist groups, visited Karak hours after the attack and said the perpetrators would be punished "with an iron fist".
Authorities have said they are still searching for the attackers, adding it was too early to determine whether they had links to known groups inside or outside Jordan.
There has been no immediate claim of responsibility.
Security was stepped up at malls, foreign embassies and other locations across Jordan, the US embassy in Amman said on Saturday, as authorities searched for the gunmen who also wounded 40 people.
(Writing by Michael Georgy;Editing by Alison Williams)
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