MAINZ, Germany — A 20-year-old jihadi has been sentenced to three years and nine months in prison in what was Germany’s first "foreign fighter" trial related to ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Identified only as Kreshnik B., authorities alleged the man received combat training and participated in missions in Syria last year. He was among a group of Islamists who traveled to there with the intention of creating a state "solely based" on strict Islamic law. He returned to Germany last year and was arrested at Frankfurt airport on December 12, 2013.
Officials have repeatedly expressed concern over the growing number of extremists leaving Germany to join ISIS. "The typical Syria travelers are young men, generally from Muslim families, with a migration background and who often failed in their jobs, training or private life," said Hans-Georg Maassen, head of Germany’s domestic intelligence service BfV. His agency says that more than 550 people have been identified as having traveled to Syria and Iraq, 180 of whom are believed to have returned.
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