20-year-old killed in Mafraq police raid

AMMAN — A 20-year-old man was killed at dawn on Thursday following a police raid to arrest a wanted suspect in Mafraq Governorate, 80km northeast of the capital, official sources said.

After news spread of the young man’s death in Baej, a town located 10km east of Mafraq city, riots were reported in the northeastern governorate at noon on Thursday, with friends and relatives of the victim allegedly attacking public buildings and vehicles, according to the sources.

The shooting occurred when a special police force accompanied by Gendarmerie and Anti-Narcotics Department agents raided a house looking “for a dangerous suspect who has been on the run since 2006”, a Public Security Department (PSD) statement said.

“Police received a tip that the wanted man, with 47 criminal records mainly for fraud, was hiding in a house in Baej town, so they decided to raid the residence to arrest the suspect,” the statement added.

While police officers were searching the house, “a group of people attempted to prevent them from arresting the wanted suspect,” the PSD said.

“Officers at the scene asked the men to leave but they refused and instead fired live ammunition at them, prompting the force to respond and fire back,” the PSD statement added.

“One of the attackers was injured in the shoot-out and rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.”

Mafraq Hospital Director Esmeir Mashaqbeh confirmed that “a man who was taken to hospital died following the shooting at Baej town.” 

The cause of death was a single bullet wound to the chest that penetrated his lungs, Mashaqbeh said.

Police arrested the wanted man as well two others who were in the house, according to the PSD.

“None of the police officers taking part in the raid were injured,” a senior PSD official told The Jordan Times.

Upon searching the house, the police found illegal drugs, an automatic weapon, ammunition clips, two money safes and a counterfeit money detector, the PSD statement said.

Hayel Khreisha, director of the Northeastern Badia education department, said “citizens attacked boys and girls schools in Baej, breaking windows and setting some sections ablaze.”

“We had to halt classes at those two schools and notified the Ministry of Education and the administrative governor about the incident,” Khreisha told Al Rai and The Jordan Times newspapers.

Mashaqbeh said the Baej High School principal was also treated for minor burns on his legs.

PSD Spokesperson Maj. Amer Sartawi was unavailable to comment on the incident despite several attempts by The Jordan Times to contact him.

*Al Rai Correspondent in Mafraq Hussein Sharaa contributed to this report.