1,400 French joined Jihadi groups in ME or planning to do so, says French PM

(IraqiNews.com) Some 1,400 French citizens either joined the Jihadi groups in Syria and Iraq or are planning to do so, said French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Monday.

Valls said, “There are 1,400 individuals who are involved in the departures for jihad in Syria and in Iraq. It is a massive jump in very little time: there were just about 30 cases when I became interior minister in mid-2012, and 1,400 today.”

“There are close to 70 French citizens or residents in France who have died in Syria and Iraq in the ranks of the terrorists,” Valls has told the French network broadcaster BFMTV.