Arrests of British Terrorists Returning from Syria Prompts Security Fears in Europe: VoA

LONDON -There has been a surge in the number of arrests of British citizens returning from the battlefields in Syria to take part in the so-called “jihad”, or “holy war”.

 According to the Voice of America (VoA), British authorities fear the increasing numbers pose a domestic security threat. The threat is being taken seriously across the continent, with thousands of Europeans thought to be fighting along with the armed terrorist groups in Syria.

The VoA revealed that among the many thousands of videos that have emerged from the conflict in Syria, one has stirred growing concerns among British security services, as it shows a British citizen called Abdul Waheed Majeed outside Aleppo earlier this month while he is surrounded by gunmen from the terrorist group Al Nusra Front – affiliated with al-Qaeda and is speaking a clear British accent.

Majeed is then seen driving an armor-plated truck packed with explosives up to the walls of Aleppo prison.

Shiraz Maher, from the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at Kings College London, estimates there are between 200 and 366 Britons fighting in Syria – more than the number of those who went out to fight in Iraq or Afghanistan.

British government is cracking down. In January alone, 16 Britons were arrested on their return home, suspected of taking part in the fighting or of attempting to travel there. For the whole of 2013, there were 24 arrests, according to VoA website.

Rafaello Pantucci of the British Royal United Services Institute said “past experience suggests the British jihadists pose twin security risks.”

 “In Afghanistan and Pakistan, where we saw young Britons who were drawn out there to fight, ended up being directed by al-Qaida core to come back and launch attacks in the UK. In other examples like in Iraq, that young Britons were drawn out there, some of whom came back and decided that it was their duty to try to do something in the United Kingdom,” said Pantucci.

The website pointed out that the problem wasn’t confined to Britain. Another suicide attack in December was reported to have been carried out by Nicholas Bons, a French jihadist fighting with the “Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant” group.

It’s estimated that up to 700 French citizens have travelled to Syria to fight there.

H. Mustafa