Daesh said in a statement on Tuesday that four of its members with machine guns and hand grenades carried out the assault on December 18 in the southern city of Karak.

The target was Jordanian security forces as well as citizens from the countries that are part of the so-called coalition led by the United States that is purportedly fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq, the statement said.

Jordan's General Security Directorate confirmed in a statement that seven of the victims were policemen, two were Jordanian civilians and one was a Canadian tourist. Thirty people were also hospitalized.

Security forces managed to rescue about 10 tourists.

On Monday, Jordanian Interior Minister Salamah Hamad said at least five explosive belts had been found, together with an ammunition cache and automatic weapons, at a militant hideout in the desert town of Qatranah, about 30 kilometers northeast of Karak.

The minister added that the assailants had fled to Karak after an exchange of fire with police.

Based on the quantities of explosives and weapons, "I don't think the target was just Karak castle, it's more," he said.

A Jordanian security source said the "four dead militants are Jordanian members of a terrorist cell suspected of belonging" to Daesh.

Jordan has come under several attacks from suspected ISIS terrorists over the past few months.

On November 7, three US soldiers were killed when gunmen fired shots at a car transporting the Americans at the entrance to al-Jafr military base near the southern Jordanian town of Mann. The slain American service members were reportedly in Jordan on a training mission.

Jordan is a major US ally in the Middle East, and a member of the coalition.

Many Jordanians oppose their country's involvement in the US-led campaign against purported Daesh positions in Iraq and Syria, arguing the campaign has often targeted civilians and raised security threats inside Jordan, Press TV reported.

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