Police officer shot dead in Maan ‘machinegun’ attack

AMMAN — A police officer was killed and another critically injured in Maan on Saturday when their vehicle was “sprayed” with bullets from a machinegun, according to the police. 

Police on Saturday said they are searching for a 21-year-old man who  they suspect of killing the officer in downtown Maan, some 220km south of Amman, earlier in the day.

“One of our police officers, a sergeant, died on Saturday in hospital after a wanted person shot at him and another police officer while they were in their highway patrol vehicle in Maan marketplace,” Police Spokesperson Amer Sartawi said.

The suspect fled the area and an all-points bulletin was issued for his arrest, Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

“Police Chief Maj. Gen. Ahmad Faqih headed to the town of Maan to supervise the operation to find the suspect,” the spokesperson said.

Former Maan mayor, Majed Sharari, told The Jordan Times that “the suspect had learnt that police were looking for him two days before the incident”.

On Saturday morning, Sharari added, “the suspect went to a busy market with a machine gun and, the minute he spotted a police vehicle, he sprayed it with bullets”.

“Three police officers were in the highway patrol pickup truck when the attack occurred; two were critically injured and the third was unharmed,” Sharari told The Jordan Times.

The victims were rushed to Maan government hospital, “where one died in hospital and the second remained in critical condition. He was airlifted to Amman to King Hussein Medical Centre”, the former mayor added.

Sharari urged the family of the suspect “to turn him in to police.”

“We strongly condemn this cowardly act and urge the suspect’s family and relatives to cooperate with the police and to turn him in,” Sharari said.

Maan has previously seen fatal attacks on police officers. Three years ago, Second Lieutenant Nart Haitham Nafash was shot dead in a Gendarmerie patrol car in the city by an outlaw.