AMMAN, Jordan – (AP) - A gunman opened fire on tourists near a popular Roman ruins site in Jordan's capital on Monday, killing a British man and wounding five other foreigners and a local police officer, officials said.

It was the first major terror attack in Jordan since triple hotel blasts in the capital that killed 63 people, including three suicide bombers, last November, and came despite stepped up security across the country.

It was not immediately clear if the attacker — who was taken into custody — had acted alone or as part of larger terror ring, but officials said they would consider the attack a terrorist act unless the man was found to be mentally unstable.

Nasser Judeh, a government spokesman, declined to say if the assailant was believed to be linked to any known terror organization. "The investigation is under way and it's still early to tell," he told The Associated Press.

The group al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for last November's attack and is believed to have militants who operate in Jordan.

The gunman struck outside the Roman amphitheater, a popular tourist destination in Amman, in broad daylight. Police overpowered and arrested him at the scene, Judeh said.

Interior Minister Eid al-Fayez said a British man was killed, while two British women, a Dutch man, an Australian woman, a New Zealand woman and a tourist police officer were injured.

"This is a cowardly terrorist attack, which we regret took place on Jordanian soil," al-Fayez told reporters at the scene.

"This operation is considered a terrorist act unless the man is found to be deranged," he said. He said the gunman was being interrogated and that the authorities were checking if he had accomplices.

Judeh said the wounded were rushed to a nearby state hospital with injuries of medium severity.

An witness to the attack in Amman's bustling downtown district said he saw one of a group of seven tourists die of his wounds at the scene.