Amman: A Jordanian parliamentarian’s son died carrying out a suicide attack claimed by the Daesh militant group in Iraq this week, Jordanian media said Friday.
Independent legislator Mazen Al Dhalaein was quoted as telling the Khaberni website that his son, Mohammad, who went by the name of Abu Al Baraa, had died in Iraq.
He said he learned of his son’s death after seeing his photo on social media accounts linked to Daesh.
Al Dhalaein said his 23-year-old son had been studying medicine in Ukraine before deciding to join Daesh this summer, travelling to Iraq through Turkey and Syria.
#ISIS carried out suicide attacks north of #Ramadi Abu al-Baraa al-Urduni Abu Ubaidah al-Shami Abu al-Fajr al-Shami pic.twitter.com/siGCQBPFMf— #selectamilenio1 (@selectamilenio1) October 1, 2015
“He considered me and his mother to be apostates and was trying to convince us to join Daesh,” he added.
The MP said he had last heard from Mohammad in August when he sent a message that he “had been signed up for a suicide attack soon”.
In a statement posted on Twitter on Wednesday, Daesh claimed a triple car bombing on the northern outskirts of Ramadi, a city west of Baghdad under Daesh control since May.
Iraqi military sources confirmed suicide attacks in the area Tuesday but were unable to identify the bombers.
“Three suicide car bombs targeted Iraqi security forces in Al Jaraishi," an army colonel said.
“The security forces repelled the attacks using Russian-made Kornet missiles,” he said.
Musa Abdullat, a leading Jordanian lawyer for Islamist groups, said the legislator’s son was killed Tuesday in an attack on the Iraqi army.
Up to 4,000 Jordanians are members of terror groups in Iraq and neighbouring Syria, Abdullat said.
“Eighty percent of them have joined Daesh,” he said, adding that 420 Jordanian militants had been killed in Iraq and Syria since 2011.