Nearly half of european extremists joining ISIS are from France

Rasa - At least 1,430 of the just over 3,000 known European Takfiri terrorists who have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight on behalf of ISIS are French, a report by the French Senate released on Wednesday suggests.

News ID: 2325

Date: 11 April 2015 - 13:23

RNA - A report by the French Senate released on Wednesday suggests that at least 1,430 of the just over 3,000 known European Takfiri terrorists who have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight on behalf of ISIS are French.

French intelligence services were monitoring another 1,570 French nationals suspected of having some level of involvement with Syrian networks, according to Agence France-Presse.

Around 200 of those who have traveled to ISIS-held territory have returned to France, a troubling figure for the French, who are still reeling from January’s IS- and al Qaeda-inspired terror attacks, which left 17 dead in Paris.

The number of French nationals who have traveled to ISIS-held territory rose from the 1,200 who were said to be with the terror group in January, according to King’s College’s International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence, despite French initiatives to stop its citizens from getting to Iraq and Syria to fight for IS.

In January, only Russia, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Jordan had more of their nationals fighting for the ISIS Takfiri militants. At the time, French Takfiri ideologists in Syria and Iraq outnumbered British and German Takfiri ideologists by 2 to 1.

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