Off the wire
• Malaysia says ASEAN ready to forge closer trade ties with China  • Israel deploys Iron Dome battery, fearing renewed attacks over prisoner on hunger strike  • China legal chief urges "better environment" for lawyers  • Japan convenience stores sales in July rise 1.2 pct  • 93-year-old architect of German "Eastern Policy" dies  • 22 Moroccan athletes to take part in Beijing athletics worlds  • 1st LD Writethru: DPRK tells S. Korea to stop propaganda broadcasts within 48 hours  • Confession reveals Japan's underage sex slaves during WWII  • Hollande upbeat about French economic perspective despite grim indicators  • Urgent: DPRK tells S. Korea to stop propaganda broadcasts within 48 hours  
You are here: 　 Home

Belgium again threatened by jihadists in Syria

Xinhua, August 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

Jihadists in Syria have expressed new threats against Belgium, the Flemish dailies reported on Thursday.

Jihad researcher at the University of Antwerp, Montasser al-De'emeh, received a threatening audio recording via a mobile instant messaging application, according to the reports.

The sender was an Antwerp resident of about 20 years who goes by the name Abu Jihad Al-Belgiki and has been in Syria since June 2013. "We take account no longer of all these discussions about the innocent victims. All the infidels will be murdered. We will kill them as they kill us," he said.

"It is clear in many ways that this man does not speak for himself, but on behalf of a larger group," Al-De'emeh said.

Meanwhile, another Belgian fighter for the Islamic State, Abu Al-Mariya Belgiki, could have been killed in Syria, according to Belgian newspapers on Wednesday.

Since the start of the Syrian conflict in March 2011, hundreds of Belgians have joined the ranks of the jihadists in Iraq and Syria.

According to the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) in London, Belgium has the highest number of jihadists recruits per capita in Western Europe. Endit