AMMAN, Jordan (AP) – A Jordanian parliament member said he learned from Islamic State-linked media that his son carried out a suicide attack in Iraq, three months after dropping out of medical school and joining the extremist group.
The case highlights the continued grassroots appeal of IS ideas in the region, including in staunchly pro-Western Jordan, a partner in the U.S.-led military campaign against the group. IS militants have seized large parts of Syria and Iraq, both neighbors of Jordan.
“My son had everything, a family, money, and studying medicine, but he was controlled by terrible thoughts,” the legislator, Mazen Dalaeen told The Associated Press. “He was deceived and tricked by Islamic State. Islamic State is in every home through TVs and the Internet.”
On Sunday, the family observed the last day of the traditional three-day mourning for 23-year-old Mohammed Dalaeen. The family is from the town of Ai in southern Jordan that was also home to a Jordanian fighter pilot who was captured by IS late last year and burned alive in a cage by the militants.
The legislator said in the mourning tent that his son had changed rapidly in a short period and that at the beginning of the year he had marched in a solidarity march for the pilot.