Jordan policeman kills 2 United States instructors, South African

An unnamed Jordanian security source told Reuters that Abu Zaid was a senior co-trainer at the facility who had the rank of captain. Four Jordanians and two other Americans were injured in the shooting at the King Abdullah Special Operations Training Center near, Amman.

Officials initially said that the attacker then shot himself, but later said that he had been shot dead by colleagues.

He said authorities are investigating whether the attacker’s motive was personal or political.

A USA official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said at one point that the death toll had apparently risen to eight, but Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed Momani disputed that figure.

In addition to the Iraqis, security forces from Jordan, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Authority have attended the facility under a variety of contracts mostly funded by the U.S. State Department.

The Jordanian embassy in Washington said the assailant also wounded five, including two Americans and three Jordanians, before being shot dead.

“We understand that a Jordanian employee and South African trainer were also killed and that additional Jordanian and Lebanese individuals were wounded” in the attack, according to the statement.

Jordan and Turkey were the two countries in which the Pentagon based a $500 million program to train and equip Syrian opposition forces fighting the Islamic State. “We will report more info when available”, it added. The incident marked the worst terrorist attack in Jordan’s history, killing 60 people and injuring over 100 more.

The US State Department said they are in contact with the Jordanian government, but has provided few details.

The Guardian further observes that today marks the 10th anniversary of “a series of coordinated attacks by al-Qaeda in Iraq”.

That ambivalence means that while Jordan has hosted small-scale USA training of rebels and allowed modest quantities of Gulf-supplied arms to filter into Syria, it has ensured that its border has not become an easy conduit for guns and combatants.