The official says the men from the ultraconservative Salafi trend of Islamic were involved in Friday’s clashes in the eastern city of Zarqa, where they stabbed unarmed policemen with swords and brandished bundles of barbed wire.

The official said Saturday among those arrested was senior Salafi figure Abed Shihadeh Al-Tahawi, who served a jail term recently for plotting terror attacks against the US

and Israeli embassies.

The ultraconservative Islamic sect is banned in Jordan and follows the tenets of Islam widespread in neighboring Saudi Arabia.

The official insisted on anonymity because comment is banned on an ongoing investigation.