Hundreds of British jihadists in Syria

More than 300 Britons are fighting with jihadist groups in Syria, raising concern that they will return trained in the latest terrorist techniques.

Syria is considered within Whitehall as a greater threat to national security than the al-Qaeda heartlands on the Afghan-Pakistan border because of the sheer numbers of British Islamists heading to the war zone.

Intelligence sources told The Telegraph that Britons make up the largest contingent out of about 1,000 Westerners fighting with Islamist groupsagainst the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

France and Australia each have about 200 citizens fighting in Syria, with others coming from countries including the US and Canada.

On Tuesday, Richard Walton, the head of Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command, said that children as young as 16 were travelling to Syria to fight.
telegraph