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Nearly 3,000 Tunisians join IS in Iraq and Syria

Xinhua, April 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Tunisian Deputy Minister of National Security said here on Monday that between 2,800 and 3,000 Tunisian fighters have joined the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

"Several hundreds of Tunisians are currently in Libya in order to train or join terrorist groups in the east and west of the country," announced the deputy minister Rafik Chelli during a workshop.

The Tunisian Ministry of Interior "has prevented 12,000 Tunisians from joining the battlefield of Syria via Turkey" and "the 500 Tunisians who came back from Syria also represent a serious problem," he added.

Interference of several ministries is necessary to address the problem, according to Chelli, including the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Religion Affairs, and the Ministry of Health.

Also, some of the returning fighters are under supervision by security forces in Tunisia and "many Tunisians have been on trial for the committed crimes," added Chelli.

Radical Islamist factions have erected camps in Libya to train young Tunisians and Libyans and send them to fight in Syria and Iraq since 2013, triggering more problems for those truceless areas. Endit