More than 300 "dangerous" British jihadists have now returned home after fighting with the Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, a leaked UK home office document has said, advocating stringent measures to help stem the tide of Islamic extremism in the country.
The home office's new counter-extremism report, pegs the number of British jihadists fighting alongside the Islamic State (IS) militants close to 700, around half of whom have now returned home, posing a major security challenge to UK.
About 320 "dangerous" jihadists have now returned to the UK after fighting with IS, the leaked document, seen by the Telegraph, said.
The new counter-extremism strategy involves monitoring Sharia courts and calls for a ban on radicals working unsupervised with children over fears the young could be brainwashed.
The new "get tough" strategy to deal with the perceived growing threat of Islamist extremists also involves introduction of penalties in the benefits system to make people learn English to improve their integration into British society and recommends tightening of rules on granting citizenship.
The report comes just days after the unmasking of 'Jihadi John' - the poster boy of western jihadists and serial killer of many western hostages in Iraq - who has been identified as as Mohammed Emwazi, a 26-year-old university graduate radicalised in London.
{{/usCountry}}The report comes just days after the unmasking of 'Jihadi John' - the poster boy of western jihadists and serial killer of many western hostages in Iraq - who has been identified as as Mohammed Emwazi, a 26-year-old university graduate radicalised in London.
{{/usCountry}}The new report, drawn up by the home office with a foreword by the home secretary Theresa May could be published before Parliament is dissolved for the general election later this month, the paper reported.