Some 870 Moroccans are fighting alongside jihadist groups in Middle East, local media reported on Monday.

Citing official statistics provided by the Morocco's Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations, the Moroccan daily Akhbar Al Yaoum said that the current number of Moroccan fighters represents 55 percent of the total number of those who left the country to join the ranks of jihadists groups in Syria and Iraq in 2012.

According the the same statistics, over 553 Moroccan fighters have been killed and 206 returned to the country since 2012.

The same source revealed that the number of Moroccans who joined the conflict zones in Syria, Iraq and Libya has significantly been reduced in the past few years.

In 2016, there were a total of three people who tried to join the Islamic State (IS) group in Libya and Syria, but were arrested.

source: Xinhua