Gendarmerie officer injured, suspect killed in Maan raid

AMMAN — A Gendarmerie officer, who was part of a force that raided a house in Maan on Sunday to arrest a suspect wanted in connection with the shooting death of a police officer last month, is recovering at hospital, official sources said on Monday.

On Sunday, a Gendarmerie force launched a raid to arrest a 21-year-old man wanted in connection with the shooting death of Warrant Officer Jafar Rababah on August 5, while in his highway patrol vehicle in downtown Maan, some 220km south of Amman.

A second officer, who was in the vehicle when the suspect allegedly “sprayed the vehicle with bullets from a machinegun in early August”, was also injured in the shooting incident and underwent medical treatment.

The suspect then fled the scene on foot and remained in hiding until the authorities pinpointed his hideout location, Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said.

“One of our officers was injured after the suspect opened fire at us. We responded and the subject in question was killed,” a senior official source said.

The injured officer, ranked first lieutenant, is still recovering at hospital and he is in good condition, the senior official source told The Jordan Times.

Sartawi told The Jordan Times that authorities had received a tip that the wanted suspect was hiding in a house in Maan.

“Our forces cordoned off the area and blocked its entrance to the neighbourhood to protect people,” the police official explained.

The forces repeatedly called on the suspect to turn himself in but “he refused and, when the force stormed the house, he fired at them and was killed as a result”, Sartawi explained.

On Sunday evening, General Director of Gendarmerie Department Major General Hussein Hawatmeh and Police Chief and Director of the Public Security Department Ahmad Sarhan Al Faqeeh visited the injured officer in hospital, according to the senior official source.

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