JAKARTA - Nearly 1,500 Indonesians either tried to go or went to the Middle East to fight for the terror group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko, in disclosing this on Tuesday (May 22), said 590 of them were still in Syria or Iraq and that 103 had been killed.

As many as 86 had returned to Indonesia while 539 others were deported.

Mr Moeldoko, a retired four-star general and former armed forces commander, did not say where they were deported from but many Indonesians have been turned away from Turkey.

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He added that Indonesian authorities had also managed to stop 171 people from travelling to Syria.