MP Admits Government Does Not Know 'Exactly Where' British Fighters Are In Syria And Iraq

The security minister has said the government does not know where hundreds of Britons who travelled to the Middle East to fight for jihadist groups have gone.

850 people have left the UK for Syria and Iraq, with only an estimated half of that number returning home.

Ben Wallace, Minister of State for Security and former Army officer, has admitted that the government "don't know where" those still in the region are.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he denied that authorities had "lost track" of the suspected terrorists.

"They went into a very hard part of Syria to reach, into the Euphrates valley and then were dispersed from there."

He said: "What we do know is about half have come back to the United Kingdom of the original 850-odd that went out.

"About 15% to 20% we think have died out there either in military action [or by other means], and at the moment we are seeing in dribs and drabs some of them coming into Turkey.

"Maybe some of them [are] trying to get back to us here, but there's a significant number that at the moment it is hard to actually tie down exactly where they are."

More: Defence Secretary Makes First Visit To Iraq