Curfew imposed on Irbid as Jordanian security operation continues

Jordanian troops exchanged fire with armed men during arrest raids in the northern city of Irbid on Tuesday, including one group holed up in a building, security officials said. The men killed in the raid wore explosives belts, and weapons and explosives were found at the scene, according to the intelligence agency. He didn’t elaborate. Previous statements by the security forces had only referred to the wanted men as “outlaws”. Locals said gunfire was first heard around 4pm.

Early reports that the militants involved were Islamic State members remain unconfirmed; however, Jordan is part of the coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria and Israel’s Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot recently warned that the Hashemite Kingdom could be targeted by the terrorist group as a result.

During the clashes, Captain Rashed Zyoud was killed and five other security personnel as well two civilians were injured.

In December, Jordanian security services arrested Abdul-Qadir Shehada aka Abu Mohammad al-Tahawi, a leading Salafi-Jihadist cleric, from his home in Irbid on the back of riots carried out by Salafi-Jihadist groups in the city of Zarqa.

The Irbid operation marks a turning point in the fight against jihadists, said Mohammad Abu Rumman, a researcher at the University of Jordan’s Centre for Strategic Studies.

Jordan’s last experience of terrorism-related violence was 2005, when suicide bombers from al-Qaeda in Iraq, the precursor group to IS, killed more than 60 people in attacks on three Amman hotels. The US ally stepped up its air strikes on IS in Feb 2015 after the Sunni extremist group burned alive one of its air force pilots who crashed in Syria while on a mission.

Jordan’s military has also conducted some raids on Islamic State hideouts in Syria.