Jordan arrests three relatives over deadly church attack after shootout, officials say

By AbdelHadi Ramahi, Eman Abouhassira and Nayera Abdallah

AL-JUDAYYDA, Jordan/DUBAI, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Jordanian security forces arrested two brothers and their brother-in-law after a shootout on Monday over a church attack that killed nine people, and the suspects appear to have no ties to other cells, senior government security officials said.

"God willing, they only represent themselves," Jordan's Director of Public Security, Major-General Obeidallah al-Maaytah, said.

Such violence is highly unusual in Jordan, a relatively stable US ally in the Middle East, and Friday's attack on the Christian minority prompted King Abdullah to order security forces to respond with an "iron fist".

In a press conference, al-Maaytah and Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya said the country would not tolerate extremist terrorism.

"The file has not yet been closed; investigations are still ongoing. As of today, there are no indications of any links between them and other cells," al-Faraya added.

Friday's assault during a funeral at a Greek Orthodox church in the village of Hamoud, about 120 km (75 miles) southwest of the capital, Amman, also wounded 40 others, alarming a Christian community. Witnesses said gunmen opened fire for several minutes. The suspects, who lived near Hamoud, will face justice, said the security officials.

Reuters video footage showed a building pockmarked by the exchange of fire in the village ofal-Judayyda, in Karak governorate.

Jordan's Public Security Directorate said in a statement carried by state media that security forces located the suspects while hiding in an abandoned house. They refused to surrender and attacked security forces, who returned fire and arrested all three after wounding them.

No security personnel were injured, and security forces found a number of firearms and rounds of ammunition in the suspects' possession.

There has been no claim of responsibility.

"Terrorism has no place among us," the directorate said, adding that the suspects had met their "just fate".

The Public Security Directorate did not name the suspects or publicly identify possible affiliations with any Islamist militant groups.

Al-Faraya said the authorities were reviewing the circumstances that led young people towards extremism and would hold accountable any participants in the attack.

(Writing by Eman Abouhassira and Michael Georgy; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Sharon Singleton and Hugh Lawson)