Alwaght-About 100 Germans have been killed fighting within the ranks of ISIS terrorist group since 2012, according to the country's interior minister.
In comments published Sunday, Thomas de Maziere said that about 700 had travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside ISIS in the last three years.
About a third of those who travelled to the region to fight have since returned, de Maziere told Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
De Maziere said Germany has blocked travel to the region in an effort to control the problem.
There are currently almost 600 investigations into 800 individuals on allegations of illegally travelling to the region to fight, he told the newspaper.
The minister also pointed to recent changes in German law that give authorities the right to confiscate identity papers from anyone seeking to travel to a Middle Eastern war zones.
The DPA news agency said that the law bans a person from leaving Germany for three years and makes it easier to press charges against anyone who attempts to travel to the region to participate in "terrorism activities".
The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by violence ever since ISIS terrorists began their march through Iraqi territory in June 2014.
The terrorists have been carrying out horrific acts of violence, including public decapitations, against all Iraqi communities such as Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians.
Iraqi soldiers, police units, Kurdish forces, Shiite volunteers and Sunni tribesmen have been engaged in joint operations to drive the terrorists out of areas they have seized.
In Syria foreign-backed terrorists have been operating against the government of President Bashar al-Assad since March 2011.
Syria blames western countries led by the US and their regional allies including the Israeli regime, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey for being the main backers of terrorists fighting to topple the country’s legitimate government.