Jordanian Corporal Killed in Stabbing at Sri Lankan Embassy

A Jordanian security corporal was stabbed to death and a second officer was wounded outside the Sri Lankan embassy in Amman on Thursday, in an attack the country's Public Security Directorate (PSD) called a "cowardly terrorist act," according to Al Jazeera.

PSD spokesperson Colonel Amer al-Sartawi said a man surprised and stabbed the victim with a sharp object on Medina al-Munawwara Street at 12:20 p.m. local time (09:20 GMT), outside the diplomatic compound in the Sweifieh district of west Amman.

What happened on Medina al-Munawwara Street?

The stabbing took place at a guard booth protecting the embassy, security sources told Al Jazeera. A patrol intervened after the initial attack, and the wounded corporal was taken to hospital, where he later died of his injuries. Al Jazeera correspondent Tamer al-Samadi reported that the attack unfolded in full view of passers-by on the busy main road. Security forces subsequently cordoned off a wide area around the street, and police, counterterrorism units and bomb disposal teams were dispatched to the scene, al-Samadi said.

Who was the officer killed?

The PSD identified the officer killed as Corporal Jawad Ali Khalaf al-Salaita, a member of the diplomatic security unit assigned to guard the embassy. Security sources told Al Jazeera that al-Salaita was stabbed in the neck while inside the guard booth. He was taken to Medical City Hospital but did not survive his wounds.

How did a second officer stop the attacker?

Jordan's state-run Al-Mamlaka TV reported that the assailant tried to seize the weapon of the officer he had just stabbed. A second lieutenant, born in 1988 according to security sources, intervened to stop him. The two struggled, and the lieutenant wounded and subdued the attacker before he could take control of the firearm, though he was himself injured in the face during the fight, Al-Mamlaka and security sources said. The PSD described his condition as stable after he was taken to Medical City Hospital. The attacker was taken separately to Dar Al Salam Hospital in critical condition, the agency said.

What do authorities say about the attacker's history?

The PSD said a preliminary investigation indicated the attacker, born in 1994, had been "planning to commit the terrorist act against the officers of the General Security Directorate." Security sources told Al Jazeera the man was carrying a dagger and a knife at the time of the attack, and al-Samadi said preliminary investigations found he had a bag full of bladed weapons.

Al-Samadi, reporting from Aqaba, said court files he had reviewed showed the attacker had a record with Jordan's military State Security Court. "The information we have obtained clearly indicates that the perpetrator has terrorism records, as classified by the military State Security Court," he said, according to Al Jazeera. Those files, he reported, showed the man had been convicted years earlier of joining groups Jordanian authorities classify as "terrorist" organizations and of conspiring to carry out "terrorist" acts inside Jordan, for which he had served a prison sentence.

What happens now in the investigation?

Al Jazeera has not reported a formal charge sheet or court date as of publication, and Jordanian authorities have not released the attacker's name or further detail on the target of his stated plan beyond the PSD's description of an intent to strike security personnel. The embassy itself was not reported breached, and no Sri Lankan diplomatic staff were reported injured. The wounded lieutenant remained in stable condition at Medical City Hospital, while the attacker remained in critical condition at Dar Al Salam Hospital, according to the PSD's statement relayed by Al Jazeera.

The attack adds to a string of security incidents at diplomatic posts in Amman that Jordanian authorities have treated as politically motivated rather than random violence, though Al Jazeera's reporting on this case is limited to the PSD's own characterization and the preliminary findings relayed through state media and security sources. No additional claims of responsibility were cited in the available reporting.

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