Jun 11, 2019

Three French jihadists and their nine children returned to France on Tuesday after being expelled by Turkey, legal sources said, a day after France took back 12 children of French jihadists from camps in northern Syria.

The returns mark an acceleration in the repatriation of children of French nationals who travelled to Iraq or Syria to join extremist groups, amid growing pressure on Western countries to take back their combattants.

The three adults -- a 35-year-old man and the two mothers of his children -- were taken into custody and the children were placed under the protection of the state.

The French foreign ministry stressed that the trio's return was unrelated to the repatriations of children from Fre

nch jihadist families stranded in Syria.