AMMAN: Eight people, including four tourists, were wounded in a knife attack on Wednesday at the famed archaeological site of Jerash in northern Jordan, a security spokesman told AFP.
Four tourists — three Mexicans and a Swiss woman — were wounded, along with a Jordanian tour guide and a security officer who tried to stop the assailant, public security directorate spokesman Amer Sartawi said.
“The assailant was immediately arrested,” the security directorate said in a statement.
The motive for the attack, which took place around noon at the Roman ruins of Jerash, a popular attraction 50 kilometres from the capital Amman, remains unknown, Sartawi added.
A source in the security services, requesting anonymity, told AFP that the attacker was identified as 22-year-old Moustafa Abourouis and that he “came from the Palestinian refugee camp of Souf”.
The Souf camp, located not far from Jerash, was established in 1967 to shelter Palestinians fleeing the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the Six Day War between Israel and Arab states.
Health Minister Saad Jaber confirmed that eight people had been wounded, after Sartawi said they had been transported to hospital for treatment.
Jaber visited the wounded at the public hospital in Jerash, accompanied by the Mexican ambassador to Jordan. The minister said that four of the victims “suffered moderate to severe wounds, while the other four had minor injuries”.
“A Mexican tourist in serious condition and a Jordanian tour guide” were transferred via helicopter to the King Hussein Medical Centre in Amman, he added.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi telephoned his Swiss counterpart Ignazio Cassis and deputy Mexican foreign secretary Julian Ventura to assure them Jordan was caring for their country’s citizens and that they would be kept abreast of the results of investigations.
Jordanian tour guide Zouheir Zreiqat witnessed the attack and told AFP that it happened “just before midday when around 100 foreign tourists” were at the site.
He said others started to shout for help and he, along with three other tour guides and three tourists managed to stop the assailant.
It was not the first time a Jordanian tourist attraction has been the site of an attack.
In December 2016, in Karak, home to one of the region’s biggest Crusader castles, 10 people were killed in an attack that also left 30 wounded.
Seven police officers, two Jordanian civilians and a Canadian tourist were killed in the attack. – AFP
