614 Belgians join jihadi groups including 266 in Iraq and Syria
Representational photo.
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – Belgian security services have created a database of 614 jihadi fighters known to be or have been residing in Belgium, including 29 Russian citizens, informed a local source.
The list includes 266 people who are currently in Syria and Iraq, four fighters who are on the way to these countries and 114 people who have returned from combat zones, 70 people on the list have attempted to join battles in the Middle East, while another 157 people plan to go to Syria or Iraq, presumably to join terrorist groups active there.
The majority of the jihadists in the database are in their teens or twenties. The list includes 48 teenagers and 372 people in their twenties.
According to the database, 109 people are presumed dead, although there has been no official confirmation of their deaths. The database also revealed that 104 people on the list are females.
The first person on the list joined jihadist ranks in the Middle East in 2012, followed by 12 people per month, with the figures staying the same for 2013.
In 2014, 11 people tried to go to Syria or Iraq every month, while in 2015 the numbers reduced to six per month. This year, none of the potential extremists left for the war zone from Belgium.
The Head of Belgian Interior Ministry’s Coordinating Unit for Threat Analysis’s (OCAM) Paul Van Tigchelt said, “About 20 suspects on the list have participated in the preparation of terrorist attacks, including seven who are thought to be linked with the attacks in Paris in November 2015 and in Brussels in March 2016.”