‘Six IS supporters detained in Amman’

AMMAN — Senior security officials confirmed the arrest of six alleged supporters of the Islamic State (IS) in Amman late Tuesday.

The six were arrested during a raid by four SWAT teams who targeted a house in the Jabal Jofeh neighbourhood of east Amman, the sources told The Jordan Times.

A senior government official said the raid comes as part of efforts to fight extremist ideology and activities considered harmful to the country’s stability and security, noting that the six will be referred to court.

The official added that the recently endorsed Anti-Terrorism Law criminalises activities that provoke violence or incite terrorism through any means.

Another security official told The Jordan Times that security agencies had reportedly spent a month monitoring the suspects, who were allegedly actively “recruiting and attempting to provide monetary support” to the extremist IS group, which has no official presence in Jordan but controls large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria.

The Public Security Department also confirmed that authorities arrested six "wanted suspects" in an east Amman raid.

Authorities are expected to refer the six men to the State Security Court, where they will likely face charges of “speech inciting terrorism” and “recruiting for a terrorist organisation” in violation of the said law. 

Tuesday’s raid raised to 80 the total number of suspected IS supporters arrested over the past two months, according to judicial and Islamist sources. 

Mousa Abdullat, defence attorney for three of the suspects, said the men were members of Jordan’s hard-line Salafist movement.

However, Salafist leaders claimed that the men were “regular citizens” with no ties to the hard-line Islamist group.

“These men were regular Jordanian citizens who support the Islamic State, they have no personal or ideological ties with our movement,” Mohammad Shalabi, also known as Abu Sayyaf, told The Jordan Times.

“If the Islamic State is active in Jordan, it is without our knowledge,” he added.

Leaders of the Salafist movement have long been at odds with IS and maintain strong links with Al Qaeda, the upstart jihadist movement’s former mother organisation and rival.

Some 1,800 Jordanians are currently serving among IS ranks in Syria and Iraq, according to claims by Salafist leader.