US confirms death of two govt employees in Jordan shooting spree

Mohammed Momani said the shooter also wounded two American instructors and three Jordanians.

President Barack Obama said the United States was taking the attack “very seriously”. He said the attack might lead to more security precautions in facilities where foreigners are present, but that it was unlikely to affect Jordan’s close security ties with the West, particularly the U.S. American contractors are reportedly sent there to help Jordanian instructors.

Authorities opened an investigation to determine the motive for the shooting, he added.

Jordanian officials told news agencies the gunman was a police captain and co-trainer at the facility on the outskirts of the country’s capital, which mainly trains Iraqi and Palestinian police officers.

The Jordan Times newspaper quoted an unnamed relative of the assailant as saying he was Anwar Abu Zaid, a 28-year-old police captain and university graduate who was married with two children and was from the northern Jordanian village of Rimoun.

State Department press secretary John Kirby said the training at the center “is predominantly arranged for Palestinian security forces to teach them basic police and security skills”.

“The family is in shock and security forces are questioning them about the incident”, said the source, who declined to be named.

Mr Momani said the Jordanian killed in the attack was a civilian employee at the centre.

“Carl worked in Iraq and Afghanistan as a police mentor trainer and went to Jordan to do the same thing as fast as he could”, his wife wrote.

It’s still unclear whether Americans were the actual target of the attack.

Jordan is commemorating the attacks amidst a growing concern of radicalization among its population.

The centre was set up initially after the US-led invasion of Iraq to train Iraqis for their country’s post-war police force. The coordinated attack by Al Qaeda killed 57 people and wounded more than 100, making it Jordan’s deadliest terrorism incident. A former parliament member, Suleiman Saed, has said security forces told him a relative, 29-year-old police Cpt. In an earlier statement, he referred to the shooting as a crime. Two Jordanians were critically wounded and later died, he said. According to government figures, at least 1,500 Jordanian citizens are fighting in Syria with various rebel groups including the extremists ones like al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State group.

Monday’s shooting occurred on the 10th anniversary of suicide bombings that targeted three luxury hotels in Amman.