Europe

Number of Swiss militants heading abroad on the rise

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Switzerland’s intelligence agency says some 22 people have left the country to join militant groups abroad since May, including eight in the past two weeks.

“The increase in the numbers compared to November certainly indicates a growing phenomenon,” the agency said on Monday.

It added that the figure accounts for almost a third of 62 people who have left to fight since 2001, including 37 who went to Syria and Iraq and 25 to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia.

Eight people have since lost their lives, while three militants have came back to Switzerland since the end of November, the agency said.

The agency further noted that declarations to promote violence and militancy on the Internet by people who seem to live in Switzerland “pose an increasingly alarming problem.”

Earlier in December, a 30-year-old Swiss was ordered to do 600 hours of community service after returning from battling alongside the ISIL terror group in Syria.

European countries have repeatedly expressed concerns over the ISIL’s influence across the continent. Authorities fear that the European militants will use their combat skills against their countries after returning home.

The ISIL terrorists currently control swaths of territory across Syria and Iraq where they have been committing heinous crimes.

The militants fighting the Syrian government have been enjoying support from the US and its allies. The ISIL-led violence in Iraq is seen as a spillover of insurgency in neighboring Syria.

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