Alwaght- The UN has expressed concerns about new wave of terror attacks before the end of this year, as tens of thousands of foreigners, who had traveled abroad to join the ISIS or other terrorist groups, are said to be still alive.
Specialist monitors at the UN Security Council said in a report that despite recent decrease in attacks across the globe, terrorism continues to pose a significant threat to the world as up to 30,000 foreigners who traveled to the Iraq or Syria for joining the ISIS might still be alive.
Extremists from across Europe joined ISIS in droves in 2014, when the Takfiri terror group launched its campaign of death and destruction in Iraq and Syria.
European countries estimated that as many as 6,000 people traveled to the two Arab countries back then. About a third were killed, while another third remain detained in the region or have moved elsewhere.
“Their future prospects will be of international concern for the foreseeable future,” the report said. “Some may join al-Qaeda or other terrorist brands that may emerge.”
Europe has so far been unwilling to take back citizens who traveled to join ISIS, saying they pose a security threat to the European Union member states.
This has prompted US President Donald Trump to threaten the EU on Thursday that he may release over 10,000 European ISIS members, captured in Syria and Iraq, to return to the place where they came from.
Trump for several times asked European leaders to act more decisively and take back their nationals. Back in February, he posted a tweet calling on Europe to take them back or Washington would be “forced to release them.”
The US said it has arrested around 850 foreigners on terror charges in the last few years.
Back in January, France said it was considering the repatriation of 130 men and women to be tried, but a month later no progress appeared to have been made. French officials also said last year that they were working on plans to return children born to foreign fighters.
Earlier this year, Germany said that a third of its estimated 1,000 nationals who are believed to have joined ISIS in Iraq and Syria since 2013, have returned to their homeland. Many of those have since been prosecuted or placed into rehabilitation programs, Berlin said.
