"As per available information, a small number of Indian youth have joined the ISIS after travelling to Iraq and Syria," Minister of State for Home Affairs Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary said in his remarks to the parliament.
The lawmaker added that a number of young citizens have been intercepted on their way to Syria and Iraq and placed under state counseling and monitoring programs.
"A certain number of ISIS [IS] sympathizers are also under surveillance by security agencies," Chaudhary said.
On Wednesday, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe said the mostly young members of ISIL – notorious for brutal tactics and the stated goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate on seized areas – bear superficial knowledge of Islam.
The CIA estimates that over 20,000 fighters from around the world have travelled to the Middle East joining extremist groups.
A July 2014 public opinion survey by ICM Research, commissioned by Sputnik News Agency, showed that 26 percent of French youth who participated in the poll expressed some form of support for Islamic State.
