Al-Faraya: The pickup truck used in the Karak operation belongs to the family of one of the perpetrators

He pointed out that initial indicators point to the existence of prior planning to carry out the operation, which included obtaining weapons that proved to be smuggled, coordinating regarding the vehicles used, the roles to be assumed by the perpetrators, and the routes they might take to flee after the attack.

He added that investigations will reveal the source of the smuggled weapons, whether they were smuggled directly to the perpetrators or into the Kingdom in general, in addition to determining whether there are parties or individuals who provided them with logistical facilities or helped them carry out the operation.

Al-Faraya indicated that the security agencies began from the first moments gathering information from surveillance cameras near the church, and were able to identify the persons appearing in the recordings from the first day, then tracked their movements, communications, and relationships, in parallel with carrying out raids and sweeping operations in desert areas, valleys, and houses near the incident site.

He pointed out that the security agencies used human and technical sources, drones, and a Royal Air Force aircraft, in addition to their technical and intelligence capabilities, and also took into consideration the information and observations provided by citizens during the search operations.

Al-Faraya said that the security agencies came to the conviction that the perpetrators did not leave the area, and suggested their presence in empty houses inside the village where they were found, explaining that they were inside an abandoned house and initiated gunfire at the security force when it raided it.

He added that the security force monitored the perpetrators using drones and confirmed that they were the wanted persons, pointing out that they opened fire on the force before it was able to apprehend them alive despite sustaining severe injuries.

He emphasized that the security force's priority was to apprehend the perpetrators alive as much as possible without endangering its members, noting that the raid and clash operation took about an hour and a half to two hours, followed by search and clearance operations of the site.

Regarding the motives of the attack, Al-Faraya said that initial indicators show that the perpetrators hold a Takfiri ideology, and their ideology intersects with the ideas of terrorist organizations, including ISIS and Al-Qaeda, stressing that investigations have not yet settled whether they were acting individually or within an internal cell or in connection with external organizations.

He pointed out that one of the perpetrators refrained from sending his daughters to schools, based on his belief that girls' education is forbidden, considering this an indicator of the nature of the extremist ideology he holds.

Al-Faraya stressed that completing the investigations is necessary to uncover the nature of the perpetrators' relationships and communications, how they obtained and smuggled weapons, whether the objectives of the operation were assigned to them by other parties or chosen by themselves, as well as identifying any potential links to internal or external cells, and the parties that may have helped them or provided them with support.

He affirmed that the results of the investigations will determine the nature of these links and the circumstances surrounding the operation, in preparation for completing legal procedures and giving the defendants a fair trial.