Out of nearly 460 French nationals who are still fighting alongside Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria, 45 are teenage girls, France's Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve told a parliamentary commission of inquiry on the surveillance of jihadist networks and individuals.
French nationals who took part in the fighting in the Middle East return to France daily, but many more are heading to Syria, the official noted, with the number of French citizens with ties to extremists in Iraq and Syria having increased by 203 percent since January 2014.
In total, over 1,400 French nationals, or nearly a half of all European jihadists, are reported to have travelled to the Middle East.
