Islamic State 'kills own Jordanian commander'

Islamic State group (IS) has executed a senior Jordanian commander, named as Saad al-Hunaiti for 'disobeying orders', accroding to social media posts on Tuesday by fighters from Nusra Front and other Islamist militant groups in Syria and Iraq.

Sources in Jordan's Salafist movement told al-Araby al-Jadeed that  Hunaiti was killed by IS, for which he worked as an Islamic judge in Raqqa.

Hunaiti, who has a PhD in pedagogy, joined IS in March 2014 after defecting from Nusra Front. 

Members of Hunaiti's family denied reports of his killing, despite losing contact with him after he left Jordan in late 2013 with his wife and two sons, following his release on bail from the Jordanian prison on 26 August 2013.

Hunaiti had been detained after taking part in a Jihadi Salafist sit-in in the Jordanian city of Zarqa, northeast of the capital city of Amman. The sit-in ended in riots.

Sources from the commander's family, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that he only contacted them once after leaving the country, then they lost touch with him.

Hunaiti had provoked outrage in Jordan with his controversial stance on the Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kassasbeh.

After Kassabeh was captured by IS when his aircraft crashed in Raqqa in December 2015, Hunaiti expressed content for his capture, congratulating Muslims for the plane crash and demanding the pilot's execution.

The Jordanian commander also sent a message to Kassasbeh's mother, who begged IS to release her son, telling her: "do you know how many Muslim mothers are in mourning because of your son? Do you know that he favours the cross worshipers over believers in God?"