Over 250 Jordanians have died fighting in Syria

More than 250 Jordanian Jihadi Salafists who joined movements in Syria fighting against the regime of President Bashar Assad have been killed since early 2011, a legal representative said Tuesday.

Since the start of the unrest in Syria, hard-line Jordanian Jihadi Salafists have crossing the border illegally to join Islamist groups fighting against the regime, Mousa Abdullat, defence attorney and legal representative of the Jihadi Salafist movement, told The Jordan Times.

Of the 250 Salafists killed, about 40 were killed over the past year and many of them died after the US began leading an international coalition to strike the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, which is controlling large areas in Syria and Iraq, Abdullat said.

Currently, there are around 2,000 Jordanian Jihadi Salafists fighting in Syria, according to the lawyer.

Of the total, about 1,300 are members of IS, while the rest are mainly with Al Nusra Front, which is an Al Qaeda-linked rebel group in Syria.

Meanwhile, Abdullat called for the release of jihadist leader Essam Barqai, known as Abu Mohammad Al Maqdisi, who was detained on Monday after being released from prison in-mid June.

Maqdisi was detained for 15 days after he published an article on a jihadist website in which he called on IS and Al Nusra Front to unite and fight the US-led international coalition that is targeting IS in Syria and Iraq, the lawyer said.

Jordan, which is part of the US-led coalition, has taken part in several strikes against IS in Syria.