Jordan strikes southern Syria after church attack; Syria denies coordination

Jordan's air force carried out airstrikes in southern Syria on Monday in response to Friday's attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Karak, according to a Jordanian air force statement quoted by The Guardian. The statement said the strikes killed and wounded many members of "terrorist groups" and destroyed a number of their vehicles. It did not name the groups or say exactly where the strikes hit.

Al Jazeera reports that Syria denies any prior coordination with Jordan. It says the strikes hit two Syrian provinces and killed at least seven people. Al Jazeera's report does not say who those people were.

Jordan also arrested three men on Monday over the church attack, which happened during a funeral. Deutsche Welle says the arrests followed a dawn shootout with security forces in which the suspects were wounded. Al Jazeera says the three are relatives. France 24 says Jordan's director of public security described them as Islamic extremists and that they are due before the courts.

An earlier Al Jazeera report said authorities had not named the suspects or any group involved. Fox News reported that officials blamed an extremist Islamist ideology.

The death toll is reported differently. CBS News, Fox News, France 24 and The Guardian say nine people were killed. Al Jazeera's latest report says eight. Early reports from PBS and NPR said seven. Wounded counts also vary: PBS first said 34, NPR said 40, and CBS says more than two dozen.

NPR and The Guardian place the church in the city of Karak. France 24 says the attack took place in the western village of Hammoud. Footage on Jordanian state television, as described by PBS and NPR, shows three gunmen. Two appear to hold pistols and a third appears to hold a semiautomatic rifle.