AMMAN, Jordan – The extremist Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a series of shooting attacks in Jordan that killed nine Jordanians and a Canadian tourist.
The U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant Internet traffic, forwarded the Arabic-language claim to reporters on Tuesday. It wasn’t immediately clear where the claim was released.
Sunday’s shootings took place in the central Jordanian town of Karak.
Linda Vatcher, a 62-year-old from Newfoundland, was killed in the attack. She had recently travelled to the Middle East to spend Christmas with her son, Chris, who was reportedly working as a teacher in the region.
Hours after the initial attack, four gunmen were shot and killed by Jordanian security forces during a standoff at Karak Castle, a Crusader fortress and tourist destination.
The Islamic State claim said that “four soldiers of the Caliphate” armed with machine-guns and hand grenades carried out the attacks.
The group set up a self-declared “caliphate” in parts of Syria and Iraq after seizing the territory in 2014.