Canadian tourist among seven dead in Jordan attacks

Amman: Gunmen killed seven people including a Canadian tourist and police officers today in a city in southern Jordan where security forces were hunting down the unidentified attackers.

The shootings took place in Karak, a tourist destination known for one of the biggest Crusader castles in the region, around 120 kilometres south of the capital Amman.

Jordan's general security department said four policemen, a female Canadian tourist and two Jordanian civilians were killed in a series of shootings. Several others were reported wounded.

The first attack took place when a police patrol went to check on a fire that broke out in a house in Karak, the department said.

"As soon as they reached the area, unknown gunmen who were inside the house opened fire on the patrol, wounding a policeman, and then fled by car," it said in a statement carried by the official Petra news agency.

"Shortly afterwards, gunmen opened fire on another patrol without causing any casualties," it added.

At the same time, gunmen holed up in the Crusader castle opened fire on the Karak police station, "wounding several policemen and passersby" who were rushed to hospital, the statement added.

"Police and security forces have surrounded the castle and its vicinity and launched an operation to hunt down the gunmen," the statement said, adding that the search was still under way.

The ministry said "five or six gunmen" were thought to be involved in the shootings.

However, Prime Minister Hani al-Malki, who was addressing parliament at the time of the attacks, said that "special forces and policemen are surrounding 10 gunmen holed up inside the Karak citadel".

It was not immediately clear who was behind the shootings but Jordan has been hit by Islamist attacks in the past.

Jordan is a leading member of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in neighbouring Iraq and Syria.

It has carried out air strikes targeting IS jihadists and hosts coalition troops on its territory.

Maaz al-Kassasbeh, a Jordanian fighter pilot, was captured by the jihadists when his plane went down in Syria in December 2014 and he was later burned alive in a cage.

Karak is Kassasbeh's hometown.

In June, a suicide bombing claimed by IS killed seven border guards near the Syrian frontier.

According to sources close to Islamists, almost 4,000 Jordanians have joined jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria, where an estimated 420 have been killed since 2011.