One Jordanian police officer was killed and another was injured in a stabbing attack outside the Sri Lankan embassy in Jordan’s capital, Amman, on Thursday, November 5.
According to a statement issued by Jordan’s Public Security Directorate (PSD), the slain officer was identified as Corporal Jawad al-Salaytah. PSD also confirmed that the perpetrator was arrested by a police patrol that rushed into the site of the attack.
Jordanian Government Communication Minister and Official Government Spokesperson Mohammad Momani said that the preliminary investigation revealed that the assault was a “cowardly terrorist attack.”
Momani affirmed that “attacking security personnel while performing their duty is an assault on the prestige of the state and the rule of law, and an assault on every Jordanian.”
Local news outlets indicated that as per his judicial record, the attacker was previously convicted in 2020 in a terrorism case linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and sentenced to nine years in prison and temporary hard labor.
The available information in the record further shows that he was released a few weeks ago after serving his sentence.
The offensive against the police officer came three weeks after a shooting attack targeted a church in Jordan’s southern governorate of Karak, killing nine people.
The Jordanian authorities announced at the time that the attackers were linked to terrorist groups in southern Syria, and retaliated by striking their positions in Rural Daraa.
However, the airstrikes on Daraa left eight Syrian civilians dead – an incident for which Jordan expressed “deep regret” after the Syrian government summoned the Jordanian ambassador to Damascus in protest.
An unnamed Jordanian source explained that the victims were killed by the pressure of the blast while sheltering in a tent near an ISIS hideout.
Jordan has for decades been seen as a stable country despite its location between regional flashpoints such as Syria, Iraq, and the occupied West Bank. Yet, recent developments have raised concerns among many that these events could be part of a broader scheme to destabilize the country.
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