800 ISIS jihadis ready to unleash terror on home soil in the West if UK and allies don’t lock them up, US officials warn
In a rare intervention from US officials, the UK has been warned to bring its homegrown jihadis to justice
SENIOR US officials have warned 800 ISIS jihadis will unleash terror across Britain and Europe if they are not locked up and put on trial.
The rare intervention from across the pond comes amid divisions in Westminster over what to do with Brit jihadis found abroad.
Justice Secretary David Gauke said yesterday that the UK could be powerless to stop 19-year-old ISIS bride Shamima Begum returning home after she was tracked down in Syria.
He said: "We can't make people stateless".
But his comments clashed with other senior members of the government including Home Secretary Sajid Javid insisted he would "not hesitate" to prevent the return of anyone who supported terrorist organisations.
Leave them at large and hope they don't find a way back.
US Government Source
Security minister Ben Wallace also vowed that Britain would not assist Begum in returning home.
He said her "actions have consequences" and that British lives would not be risked trying to save her from the Syrian refugee camp she ran away to.
ISIS's days are numbered as coalition forces prepare to declare victory after years of struggling against the terror group.
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But with US troops due to withdraw from Syria soon, there is increased concern from Washington that "time is running out" to prosecute fundamentalist fighters.
Most of the captured fighters are being held by US-backed Kurdish forces, who had demanded Britain and her allies take the jihadis off their hands.
US government officials told the Britain's refusal to take back their homegrown terrorists was a policy of "leave them at large and hope they don't find a way back".
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