Jordan cooperating with US over Tennessee killing — official

AMMAN — Jordan on Monday denied news reports claiming that Tennessee gunman holds Jordanian nationality, but stressed that authorities are cooperating closely with US authorities in investigations related to the incident.

Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, a gunman, unleashed a barrage of gunfire at two military facilities on Thursday in Tennessee, killing five marines.

Abdulazeez is a “Palestinian born in Kuwait in 1990”, an official source told The Jordan Times on Monday, adding that he only holds a Jordanian “travel document and without a national number”. In addition, he holds an American passport, according to the source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Jordan grants this kind of travel document mainly to Palestinians from the Gaza Strip residing in Jordan. 

However, Jordanian authorities are now working closely with US authorities in their investigations, as the suspect visited the Kingdom in 2014 according to informed sources.

In this regard, Mohammad Momani, the government spokesperson, told The Jordan Times: “Jordan is keen to keep close cooperation with the US in security-related matters and to exchange information to even prevent criminal and terrorist acts”.

Still, neither the minister nor the official sources elaborated on the process of investigations with Abdulazeez’s relatives in Jordan and the reasons for his visit to the country last year.