Amman: Jordan’s Interior Ministry said that initial investigations into the shooting incident on the other side of the King Hussein Bridge confirmed that the shooter is a Jordanian citizen.
The ministry identified the shooter as Maher Diab Hussein Al-Jazi, a resident of the Al-Husseiniya area in Ma’an Governorate, according to a statement from the state-run Petra news agency.
According to the ministry, initial investigations indicate the incident was an individual act, and inquiries are still underway to uncover more details, reports Xinhua news agency, quoting Petra.
The ministry said the shooter crossed the bridge as the driver of a freight vehicle carrying commercial goods from Jordan to the West Bank, adding that coordination is underway between relevant authorities to transfer his body for burial in Jordan.
Earlier on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said a driver approached the Allenby Bridge, a border point between Jordan and the occupied West Bank, from the Jordanian side in a truck, exited his vehicle, and opened fire on Israeli security guards, leaving three dead at the scene. The attacker was shot dead by Israeli forces.
Following the shooting attack, the Israel Airports Authority said in a statement that it has shut down the Allenby Bridge, also known officially in Jordan as the King Hussein Bridge, along with the Wadi Araba Crossing, or Yitzhak Rabin Crossing, between Israel’s Red Sea resort city of Eilat and Jordan’s Aqaba, and the Jordan River Crossing, or Sheikh Hussein Bridge, between Israel’s Beit She’an and Jordan’s Irbid.
–IANS