More European Extremist Youths Join Syria Terrorists

Two French 15-year-olds have left France to join extremist militants in the fight along Syria terrorist groups, one of their fathers and the Toulouse prosecutor said on Friday.

“I’ve informed the Paris anti-terrorist prosecutor because the two boys made their intention clear that they would travel to Syria via Turkey,” prosecutor Michel Valet told Reuters.

French officials say they are increasingly worried about their own nationals travelling abroad to fight in Syria’s civil war and one day returning to plot attacks at home.

The father of Hakim, one of the two boys from the southwestern city of Toulouse, told BFM TV his son had left a note on Jan. 6. explaining he was going to join the Jihad, or Holy War in Syria.

He said Hakim left cash behind to cover the cost of a plane ticket to Turkey which he bought with his father’s credit card.
According to the father, who did not give his name, the boy called the family three days ago to say he was in danger in Syria and that he would not call again for a month.
He added that if he did not call by then the family should assume he was dead and they would next meet in paradise.
“He has been brainwashed on the Internet,” the father said.

This comes as more and more Europeans are joining the extremist groups, according to the European Union, which in May recommended better tracking of social media to spot foreign fighters.
President Francois Hollande said on Wednesday about 700 French nationals and residents had travelled to fight in Syria.

He has made clamping down on violent cells and self-radicalized “lone-wolf” operators planning domestic attacks a priority since a Toulouse-based al Qaeda-inspired gunman Mohamed Merah shot dead seven people in March 2012.
Three people were arrested in June as part of a group suspected of sending fighters to Syria.
Two brothers from Toulouse were killed recently in Syria, one in a suicide bombing, after appearing on a video urging Hollande to convert and Muslims to join the war.
“Since the Merah case, we’ve had several of cases of young people travelling to Syria although it is not exclusive to Toulouse,” Prosecutor Valet said.
Speaking to reporters on Friday Interior Minister Manuel Valls said 20 French “jihadis”had died in Syria.

“It shows the magnitude of the phenomenon in France and Europe,” he said.
Meanwhile, two men are due to appear in London court charged with traveling to Syria intending to commit acts of terrorism.
Yusuf Sarwar and Mohammed Ahmed – both 21 and from Birmingham, central England – were arrested at Heathrow Airport on Monday after arriving on a flight from Turkey.

The men stand accused of traveling to Syria on or before May 15, 2013 via Istanbul, Turkey, “with the intention of committing acts of terrorism” and preparing to engage in acts of terrorism.
They will appear Saturday at Westminster Magistrates Court in London.
Police have said the case is not connected to the arrest on Friday of another 21-year-old from Birmingham on suspicion of attending a terrorist training camp in Syria.