Calm returned to southern town following riots

AMMAN — Calm was restored in Karak late Saturday night following riots that erupted and led to temporary electricity disruption after a wanted man was shot and killed during a police ambush on Friday, official sources said.

The 20-year-old suspect was shot and killed by Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) agents while attempting to arrest him in Mutah town in Karak, over 140km south of Amman, Public Security Department (PSD) Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said.

Some individuals in Mutah shot at a power generator causing temporary electricity disruption late Wednesday night, Sartawi added.

According to a PSD statement, the suspect was classified as “extremely dangerous and was wanted in 16 cases involving illegal drugs, resisting arrest and possession of a weapon”.

The incident occurred when AND received a tip-off that the suspect was riding a van in Mutah and “set up an ambush to arrest him”, according to the PSD statement.

The suspect attempted to flee by smashing his vehicle into the police car and running over the AND agents “prompting the officers to respond by opening fire at his vehicle to protect themselves and contain him”, the PSD statement added.

However, when officers approached his vehicle,  “they discovered that the suspect was injured”.

He was rushed to a hospital but died shortly after being admitted, the PSD statement added.

Sartawi told The Jordan Times that police were investigating the incident.

Mutah residents burned tyres and blocked the main street in the town with rocks in the morning “in protest against the incident”, a second source said.

Later in the day, unidentified individuals shot at an electricity generator causing disruption to the entire town, Mohammad Dmoor, a Karak resident said.

“The electricity returned following around an hour and several people were arrested in connection with the shooting incident,” Dmoor told The Jordan Times over the phone.

However, Sartawi said that gendarmerie forces “were sent to the town and contained the situation and everything is under control”.

“The situation is back to normal in Mutah city and our officers who were involved in the arrest operation are fine and no one was injured,” the police official said.