Advertisement

Norway's kids joining the war in Syria: PST

NTB/The Local
NTB/The Local - [email protected]
Norway's kids joining the war in Syria: PST
Photo: Kid warrior

The Norwegian Police Security Service claim children have travelled to Syria from Norway to join the fight for Isis, as the US-led coalition began air strikes to wipe out terror threats in the Middle East on Tuesday.

Advertisement

PST (Politiets Sikkerhetstjeneste) knows of Norwegian children having travelled or tried travelling to Syria, claimed Martin Bernsen, communication consultant  for PST in a report by Nettavisen.

His statement comes after German authorities this weekend revealed they know of at least 24 German children who travelled to the Middle East to join rebel group Isis in Syria and Iraq.
 
Bernsen said: “The trends one finds in Germany also exist in Norway. [PST] have examples of young children having travelled or who have tried travelling to Syria. One cannot exclude that there are some down there we do not know about.”
 
The Norwegian official added it could be about fewer than ten cases and that the teenage sisters from Bærum who went to Syria last year are not included in that figure.
 
PST are concerned parents living in Norway think it is acceptable their children go to the civil war in Syria.
 
Bernsen said PST has intervened with parents whom they suspected were helping plan for children to go to Syria.
 
“When they are under 18 years old, we can warn their parents. We have examples of parents who think it's ok and parents who don’t think it's ok,” said Bernsen.
 
Hans Georg Maassen, head of the German intelligence service BVF, highlighted that tens of German children had travelled to the Middle East.
 
According to Maassen, four of the children were girls who travelled to the Middle East with a “romantic image of marrying a jihadist (holy warrior)”.
 
Bernsen too confimed he has seen cases of Norwegian women who travelled to Syria to “marry” jihadists.
 
He said: “We have examples of Norwegian women who also went down there to become the 'wives’ or girlfriends to the men there. There are several people who have been there for a long time already.“

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also