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Alleged killer of Jordanian student shoots himself during arrest: Police

Iman Rashid, 21, was fatally shot at her university in Amman earlier this week just days after another female student was killed in Egypt, sparking calls to action
Iman Rashid, 21, was shot on the campus of the Applied Sciences University in Amman on 23 June (Screengrab/Twitter)

The man who allegedly killed a young woman outside of her university in Amman shot himself when surrounded by police on Sunday, Jordan's Public Security Directorate (PSD) said in a statement. 

The gunman's condition was not immediately clear.

Police on Sunday said they had located the man who fatally shot 21-year-old Iman Rashid on the campus of the Applied Sciences University in Amman on Thursday night. With police encircling the alleged shooter, the man reportedly shot himself. 

Separate murders of two female students triggers region-wide anger
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Rashid's killer had fled the scene just after her murder earlier this week, with police launching a manhunt.

It was unclear what evidence the police had obtained linking Rashid's murder to the man involved in Sunday's incident. 

The killing of Rashid, a nursing student, took place just days after another female student, Naiyera Ashraf,  was killed in a separate incident in Egypt. The killings triggered widespread fury across the Middle East and North Africa and calls for greater protection against gender violence and femicide in the region. 

Incidents of femicide are not uncommon in the MENA region.

Last year, a Kuwaiti woman was murdered and abandoned by her killer at a hospital after she rejected his marriage proposal. 

Her death prompted demand for stricter punishments for gender-based violence in the Gulf country.

In February, the Edraak Foundation for Development and Equality released a report detailing a "notable rise" in gender-based violence in Egypt.

The report recorded 813 cases of violence against women and girls in 2021, compared with 415 such crimes in 2020.

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