Three Mexicans, one Swiss wounded in stabbing at Jordan tourist spot

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In a photo taken on July 21, people walk along the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Jerash during the Jerash Festival of Culture and Arts in Jerash, Jordan. PHOTO: REUTERS

AMMAN (REUTERS, AFP) - Three Mexican tourists and one Swiss were wounded along with four locals in Jordan on Wednesday (Nov 6), when a man went on a stabbing rampage in Jerash city, a major tourist destination near ancient Roman ruins, Jordan's minister of health said.

Four of those injured had moderate to serious wounds and the others light ones, Mr Saad Fayez Jaber told Reuters.

He gave no further details.

Police said a man was arrested over the attack.

"Around noon, a man attacked tourists, a tour guide and a security officer who tried to stop him in Jerash", a popular attraction 50km from the capital Amman, a spokesman for the public security directorate said in a statement.

"The wounded were transported to hospital for treatment" and "the assailant was immediately arrested", he added.

Sources had earlier mistakenly said three of the wounded tourists were Spaniards.

Videos posted on social media showed a bleeding woman lying on the floor and another panic-stricken woman in a blood-stained T-shirt.

Jordan has seen a surge in tourism in the last two years and is considered by tour operators as one of the safest tourist destinations in the Middle East.

It has rarely seen attacks on foreign tourists.

Still, it is not the first time tourist sites have been targeted by attacks in Jordan.

In December 2016, at Karak, home to one of the region's biggest Crusader castles, 10 people were killed in an attack that also left 30 wounded.

The attack was claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria group (ISIS). Ten people were ultimately sentenced for carrying out the attack.

The Roman ruins at Jerash are one of Jordan's main tourist draws after the ancient desert city of Petra.

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