Death toll in Jordan police shooting 'reaches eight'

The attacker was shot dead by Jordanian security forces.

Jordanian investigators have not revealed whether they have found links between the attacker and any terrorist network.

It took place on the 10th anniversary of al- Qaeda suicide bombings that targeted three Amman luxury hotels and killed dozens of people in the worst militant attack in the history of Jordan, a staunch U.S. ally.

The three foreign instructors killed were on contract to the Jordanian police, Momani said.

No members of the USA military, who cycle through the training center, were involved in the shooting, the US official said.

The centre was set up initially after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq to train Iraqis for their country's post-war police force.

A USA official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said at one point that the death toll had risen to eight, but Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed Momani disputed that figure.

There was no immediate word on the motive for the attack. The gunman, Abu Anwar Zeid, was a senior police official, and his motive for the attack is not known yet, authorities said.

"It is possible that it is yet a lone wolf, acting in ISIS' name", said St-Pierre, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

The English-language Jordan Times quoted a relative as saying the assailant was a 28-year-old father of two from Rimun village in the northern governorate of Jerash.

The State Department declined to provide numbers for how many USA contractors are working in Jordan on State Department contracts.

The attack marks the first deadly strikes against envoys linked to US programs in Jordan since USAID official Lawrence Foley was gunned down in an Amman suburb by al-Qaida sympathizers in 2002.

Pentagon spokesman Major James Brindle told Al Jazeera that the Pentagon was trying to verify the information, adding that he could not yet confirm the identity of the two dead Americans.

Over the past year, the pro-Western kingdom has taken on a high-profile role in the fight against extremists, including the Islamic State group, which controls large areas of neighbouring Iraq and Syria.

Jordan's monarchy under King Abdullah, whose Hashemite family has ruled the former British protectorate since the 1920s, is a USA ally and fashions itself a force for moderation in a turbulent neighborhood.

The two Jordanian translators were to be buried later Tuesday and Wednesday.