Jordan's Minister of Government Communications, Muhannad Mubaidin, described the early Sunday morning shooting near the Israeli embassy in Amman as "a terrorist attack against public security forces", the Xinhua news agency reports.
The Jordan Public Security Directorate said a gunman opened fire on a patrol in Rabieh, near the Israeli embassy. Security forces were dispatched to the scene, where they identified the shooter, who attempted to flee.
The suspect was pursued and eventually cornered by security forces, leading to an exchange of gunfire.
The assailant was shot dead, while three security officers sustained minor injuries. They were transported to the hospital for treatment.
"Any attempt to harm national security or attack public security officers would be met with the full force of the law," said Mubaidin, who added that such criminals "will face just retribution."
The investigation into the attack is ongoing. While authorities have not indicated whether the shooting was related to the nearby Israeli embassy, the embassy in Jordan has been in the past the scene of anti-Israel protests.
In March, Jordanian anti-riot police beat and arrested dozens of demonstrators who were trying to march towards the Israeli embassy.
Two days earlier, riot police fired teargas to push back hundreds of protesters.
The protesters reportedly chanted “No Zionist embassy on Jordanian land,” in one of the slogans that have become customary at protests that call on Jordan to scrap its peace treaty with Israel.
The authorities allow protests outside the Israeli embassy but say they cannot tolerate any attempt to storm the embassy.
Jordan signed a peace deal with Israel in 1994 but many locals are against the treaty. In addition, the Jordanian parliament, which is made up mostly of Islamists, remains anti-Israel and its members have more than once called to annul the peace treaty.