“Investigations are under way but early indications are that this was an isolated and individual act”, Mr Momani said, announcing the arrest of a Jordanian in his 20s without giving his name.
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Government spokesman Mohammad Momani said the attack targeted the office in the Baqaa camp for Palestinian refugees in northern Amman, according to the official Petra news agency.
A security source said the suspect was arrested at a mosque in the Salt region north of Amman.
Jordan has been involved in the United States-led aerial bombing campaign against Islamic State targets in neighboring Syria and Iraq since September 2014.
The targeted security office faces Baqaa camp, which was established nearly half a century ago for Palestinian refugees displaced in the conflict with Israel.
The sprawling Baqaa camp was set up in 1968 to house Palestinian refugees fleeing the West Bank and Gaza Strip after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
The five agents, who had been starting their shift, were buried later in the day in their home towns, with hundreds of members of the security services in attendance. The last large successful attacks in the country happened in 2005, when Al-Qaeda bombed three hotel lobbies in Amman, killing 60 people. “Jordan is in the midst of a cyclone and shares long borders with Syria and Iraq”, he told AFP.
“By attacking this office today, the terrorists want to send a message that they can attack at the heart of security in Jordan”, said Hassan Abu Hanieh, a Jordanian expert on Islamist groups.
Mr Momani said the assailants, whom he described as terrorists, killed three guards, a handyman and a receptionist, but did not clarify how they carried out the attack. A Jordanian pilot captured by ISIS was shockingly burned alive in a cage by the terrorist group, sparking domestic outrage and accelerating Jordanian anti-ISIS efforts.
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Jordan is a U.S. ally in the war against DAESH and the country is on good terms with Israel.
