Kosovo, BiH top Jihad recruitment sources

BELGRADE - German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on Monday that Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) top Jihad recruitment sources in the Balkans, adding that Serbia is adopting amendments to the criminal law in order to hinder and prevent perspective fighters from joining the radical Islamic groups.

As in all other impoverished Balkan countries with a high unemployment rate, the influence of radical forces in Kosovo is increasing, reads the daily, adding that according to the assessment of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency and U.S. CIA, a total of 150 people from Kosovo have taken part in conflicts in the Middle East.

The daily adds that a total of 140 people from Albania, 30 from Montenegro and 20 from Macedonia have joined the radical troops.

Aside from western countries with numerous Muslim population such as France, Belgium and England, the Balkans has become one of the main sources of new IS fighters and other radical groups, the daily reports, taking BiH as an example.

The daily reads that 40 percent of the BiH population are Muslims who have been closely abetted with radical Islamism since the nineties.

Back then, Muslims came from around the world to help their brothers in the fight against Serbs. Over the last few years, the Islamic foundations, often operating with money from Saudi Arabia, stepped up their engagement in BiH. Some villages, such as Gornja Maoca, are Islamic fortresses, the daily reads.

A few years ago, the Bosnian police believed that there are over 3,000 radical Islamists in the country, and early in September the BiH Intelligence Security Agency stated that there are indications that as many as 340 Bosnian Islamists have joined IS or other radical groups in Syria and...