DHAKA: Around 930 French citizens or residents, including at least 60 women, are either actively engaged in jihad in Iraq and Syria or are planning to go there.

French interior minister said on Sunday, reports The Straits Times.

In an interview with ‘Le Journal de Dimanche’ weekly, Bernard Cazeneuve said, ‘930 French citizens or foreigners usually resident in France are today involved in jihad in Iraq and Syria’.

According to the minister, ‘350 are on the ground, including 60 women. Around 180 have left from Syria and 170 are en route for the zone’.

In addition, some 230 people are looking to head to areas held by jihadists. Added to this total of 930, an estimated 36 have already died out there, said Cazeneuve.

Western governments have voiced concern about the possibility of their citizens joining Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria and then returning home to commit atrocities.

The man who carried out the apparent beheading of British aid worker David Haines speaks with a British accent.

BDST: 1431 HRS, SEP 14, 2014