A gunman opened fire on tourists visiting a popular site in downtown Amman on Monday afternoon, killing a British man and wounding six other people, Jordanian officials said.

Hospital officials identified the dead man as Christopher Stoke, 53. Wounded in the shooting were two British women, an Australian woman, a woman from New Zealand, a Dutchman and a sergeant with the Jordanian Tourist Police, Jordanian officials said.

Jordan’s official news agency, Petra, identified the gunman as Nabeel Ahmad Issa Jaoura, 38, from Yajouz, near the Islamist stronghold of Zarqa. Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit said security officials were interrogating Mr. Jaoura and investigating whether he was acting alone or was part of a terrorist cell.

Officials said the shootings would be considered a terrorist act unless the gunman was found to be mentally unstable. It was the most serious attack of its kind since suicide bombers attacked three Amman hotels last November, killing 63 people. Nasser Joudeh, a government spokesman, said the police would be stepping up already tight security in the Jordanian capital and elsewhere.

“This is a cowardly, terrorist attack, which we regret took place on Jordanian soil,” Interior Minister Eid al-Fayez told reporters.

Witnesses said the shooting began shortly after midday when Mr. Jaoura, cleanshaven and dressed in jeans, opened fire on the group of tourists as they walked in the ancient Roman amphitheater in Amman, a popular tourist destination. He fired at least 15 bullets into the crowd, shouting “Allah-u akbar,” or “God is great.”

The wounded were taken to Al Bashir and the Prince Hamza hospitals, about one mile away. The two British women underwent surgery and were in intensive care Monday evening in critical but stable condition. Hospital officials said the 32-year-old Dutchman was recovering from a bullet wound in his abdomen, while the Australian woman had been treated for a bullet in her thigh. The tourist police sergeant, Awni Falah Ayed, was treated for bullet wounds in the chest and thigh. The condition of the New Zealand woman was not known.

Jordan says it has thwarted numerous plots against Jordanian landmarks and government buildings as well as against Western tourists. Last November, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia took responsibility for the attacks on the three Amman hotels, the deadliest terrorist act in the country’s history.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company