Policeman in Jordan killed US and South African security trainers

Jordan is investigating the motive behind a shooting at a US-funded security-training facility in Amman, although Islamic terror is largely suspected.

A Jordanian policeman opened fire Monday on foreign trainers at a police training compound, killing two Americans and a South African before being shot dead, a government spokesman said.

The attacker also wounded two Americans and four Jordanians, one of them critically, said spokesman Mohammed Momani.

Authorities have launched an investigation into whether the motive for the shooting was personal or political, Momani added.

A military official said the attacker was a police captain who worked as a trainer at the facility on the outskirts of the Jordanian capital, Amman. The captain was married and had two children, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the government has not released the assailant’s identity.

Jordan, a close US ally that has a peace treaty with Israel, has long been seen as an island of relative stability in a turbulent region.

Over the past year, the pro-Western kingdom has taken on a high profile role in the fight against terror, including the Islamic State group, which controls large areas of neighboring Iraq and Syria.

There has been concern that terrorists could carry out revenge attacks on Jordanian soil.

“We have full confidence in our security measures, and the investigation will uncover the motivation behind what happened,” Momani told The Associated Press. In an earlier statement, he referred to the shooting as a crime.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said US officials were “in contact with the appropriate Jordanian authorities, who have offered their full support.”

By: AP