BERLIN, September 18 (RIA Novosti) – More than 4,000 Europeans, including 400 German citizens, are fighting for terrorist organizations, including the Islamic State (IS), in Syria and Iraq, Bild reported on Thursday, citing a secret services source.
According to a document obtained by the newspaper, there are no branches of the IS in Germany but there is potential for their emergence and development in the country.
"There are no exact figures on IS militants from Germany. But it can be assumed that the self-determination of the IS as the top of the global jihad has a certain attraction, for the militants including from Germany" — the document says.
A separate recent publication by Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that several terrorist attacks in Iraq and Syria have been committed by Islamists from Germany. The exact number of incidents was not defined, but the newspaper wrote that there were more than five with four more currently being investigated.
The IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, it launched an offensive in Iraq and seized vast areas in both countries, proclaiming an Islamic caliphate on the territories under its control.
