"Jihad kids" pose great threat when returning to Netherlands: Counter terrorism boss

The National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security Dick Schoof is very concerned about at least 80 children of Dutch jihadists that are growing up in ISIS territory, he said to the Telegraaf on Wednesday. According to him, these kids are at risk of being severely traumatized. And Dutch security forces are seriously concerned that young boys are already a threat to the Netherlands.

Schoof spoke to the newspaper ahead of a report that intelligence service AIVD is releasing on Wednesday. The report focuses on jihadists returning from the ISIS caliphate. It states that the AIVD monitors boys from the age of 9 years, because that is the age from which kids are used to commit attacks in Iraq and Syria. The kids are trained to use weapons and make explosives and are brainwashed in jihad classes, according to the AIVD.

According to the Telegraaf, Schoof is thinking about a new policy for how to deal with Dutch kids returning from the ISIS caliphate.

The AIVD believes that more and more Dutch jihadists will return to the Netherlands in the coming time, because the situation is getting worse for ISIS in Syria and Iraq. "But the exact course of return is difficult to predict", Rob Bertholee, head of the AIVD, said to the Telegraaf.

At least 280 Dutch people traveled to Syria to join ISIS. 50 of them since returned to the Netherlands.

ISIS is losing more and more ground and is being besieged in major cities such as Raqqa and Mosul.