Police still hunting suspected assassin of Maan officer

AMMAN — Authorities on Wednesday said they were still searching for a 21-year-old man who allegedly shot police officers, killing one and injuring another at a busy market in Maan last week.

Warrant officer Jafar Rababah was shot and killed allegedly by the unnamed suspect on Saturday morning while in his highway patrol vehicle in downtown Maan, some 220km south of Amman.

The suspect then fled on foot and is believed to be hiding in a house in the town.

"Special forces surrounded a house believing that the suspect was hiding inside it in Maan city, but when officers stormed into the house they did not find him," Police Spokesperson Amer Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

Former Maan mayor, Majed Sharari, said there is heavy police presence in the town and "police are still searching for the suspect".

"Police were still negotiating with the suspect's family and arrested some of his family members during a raid on a house where they believed he was hiding but later released them," Sharari told The Jordan Times. 

A second officer, who was in the vehicle when the suspect allegedly "sprayed the vehicle with bullets from a machinegun", remained hospitalised in fair condition, according to Sharari.

Sharari has told The Jordan Times recently that “the authorities do not want to escalate the situation and prefer to resolve it peacefully to prevent any further escalation or injuries.” 

The former mayor said the suspect probably attacked the vehicle “at random because he learnt that police were looking for him two days before the incident”.

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.