More Than 800 Extremists Leave Germany to Join Daesh in Syria, Iraq
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – According to a newspaper report, more than 800 extremists have left Germany to join terrorist groups such as Daesh (ISIL). At least 60 percent were German citizens.
German daily "Die Welt" said on Tuesday that more than 800 extremists have left Germany to join terrorist groups such as Daesh (ISIL) in Syria and Iraq.
Around a third of radicals who had joined up with the militants abroad had also returned to Germany, meaning the number of terror travelers has slightly increased since the beginning of the year, said a spokeswoman for the Federal Criminal Office (BKA).
In January, BKA President Holger Münch said the criminal bureau had in fact seen a slight decline in travel by extremists to the war zones.
The report also said that German authorities now believe that more than 130 radicals who have traveled to Syria or Iraq have as foreign fighters have died - some of them as suicide bombers, Deutsche Welle reported.
After studying the backgrounds of 677 radicals who traveled to Syria and Iraq up until last June, the BKA found that most of the militants were men between the ages of 22 and 25.
Authorities in Germany and throughout Europe are currently working on how to contend with the problem of the hundreds of citizens who have left to fight alongside extremists in conflict regions and the danger they pose on their return.
German police have also carried out a number of raids on suspected extremist homes in recent months, with several suspects standing trial on suspicion of fighting alongside terrorists.
In December, a court in Celle sentenced two men to a total of seven years and three months in jail for being members of a terrorist organization, while in January another man was arrested on suspicion of carrying out a "war crime against a humanitarian operation."