Terror threat

Report: Jump in number of jihadis traveling from Germany to Iraq, Syria

Weekly news magazine "Der Spiegel" reported the increase in the number of homegrown jihadis in their latest issue, not long after Germany's domestic intelligence service warned that Islamic extremism was spreading in the country.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) said that 910 suspected jihadis had left Germany to travel to Iraq and Syria, a noticeable increase from the roughly 800 extremists reported about a year ago, "Spiegel" reported.

More than half of the extremists hold German citizenship, and around a fifth of them are women. Some 145 of the extremists are said to have already been killed in Syria and Iraq, the magazine added.

According to the government, a third of the jihadis have since returned to Germany, at least 70 of whom took part in fighting abroad.