'There was no holy war': A picture purporting to show Indian jihadist Areeb Majeed fled his home to join ISIS in Iraq, only to return because the terror group forced him to clean toilets instead of fighting

Disgruntled jihadists who travelled to Iraq and Syria to join the Islamic State are begging to be allowed back home after complaining they were forced to do menial tasks and had to suffer without their creature comforts.

Foreign recruits have been writing to their parents with feeble excuses that range from having to clean toilets and doing the washing up to the fact their iPod was no longer working or that it was getting too cold.

One Indian jihadist, Areeb Majeed, 23, left for Iraq with three friends in late May amid fears by authorities that ISIS militants were attempting to recruit from India's large pool of young Muslim men.

But the engineering student flew home on Friday to Mumbai after whingeing to his mother and father that he was made to carry out lowly tasks rather than fighting on the front line.

A number young French Muslim converts are also having second thoughts about signing up to ISIS as revealed in a series of weepy messages home that were leaked to newspaper Le Figaro.

One said: 'I'm fed up to the back teeth. My iPod no longer works out here. I have got to come home.'

Another wrote: 'I've done hardly anything but hand out clothes and food,' he said.

'Winter is beginning. It's starting to get tough.'

A third fighter said he was 'sick' of his time with the militant group, adding: 'They make me do the washing up'.

They and dozens of other recruits are reportedly now working with French lawyers who have collected texts and messages that suggest the jihadists felt 'cheated' into joining ISIS.

They have appealed for clemency from the authorities, with one lawyer saying that the longer they remain in Iraq and Syria the more chance they have of becoming 'time bombs' when they return.

It came as Majeed was arrested and charged by India's elite National Investigation Agency (NIA) with terror-related offences when he arrived back home.

The engineering student flew home on Friday to Mumbai where he was arrested and charged by India's elite National Investigation Agency (NIA) with terror-related offences

Creeping influence: Radicalised foreigners have been drawn to ISIS (above), which has conducted a series of mass executions and other atrocities since launching its offensive in Iraq and Syria in June

Majeed told NIA officers he was sidelined by the jihadists for whom he fetched water and performed other lowly tasks such as cleaning toilets, instead of taking part in the deadly offensive like he wanted, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

He phoned his family to say he wanted to come home after suffering an unexplained bullet wound for which he did not get proper medical attention, the agency said late Sunday.

'Only after I begged them, I was taken to a hospital,' he was quoted as saying by NIA officers.

'There was neither a holy war nor any of the preachings in the holy book were followed.'

India's moderate population of 150 million Muslims have traditionally not been drawn into sectarian conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, but the case of the four raised concerns about online recruitment.

Al Qaeda announced in September a new chapter of its extremist movement charged with waging jihad in South Asia, prompting several Indian states to be placed on high alert.

Tanvir Sheikh, the father of one of Majeed's friends who was still missing in Iraq, said he felt betrayed by his son.

Mohommod Nawaz (left) and his brother Hamza Nawaz (right) became the first Britons jailed for attending a jihadist training camp in Syria. Mohommod had complained to his girlfriend about his treatment abroad

The brothers had photos of the terror camp training schedule and pictures of the camp on their phones

Sheikh said his son Fahad was offered a job in Kuwait but instead decided to travel to Iraq to join the extremists.

'He had got a job offer from Kuwait with a salary of three lakh rupees (£3,000) but he ignored that and instead took up arms.

'Now what happens to his future?' Sheikh told the Indian Express newspaper on Monday.

'I feel let down by my son. He had a bright career ahead of him but he took advantage of our love and betrayed us.'

It comes days after a court heard how a British man jailed for conspiring to attend a terror training camp in Syria had returned home after whingeing to his girlfriend about his treatment abroad.

Mohommod Nawaz, 30, was jailed for four-and-a-half years along with his younger brother Hamza Nawaz, 24, who was given three years at the Old Bailey.

The brothers brought back bullets and took the pictures on their mobile phones to remember their time in the jihadist camp - which were later found by police and used to prove their guilt.

Photos from the brother's phones showed the strict daily schedule at the camp included two sessions of 'military training', two sessions of 'Islamic lessons' and 'lights out' at 10pm.

The day began at 4.30am with prayers, followed by physical training from 6am to 8am. There would be 'military training' twice a day and further Islamic lessons before bed.

Creeping influence: Two extremist groups have pledged allegiance to ISIS in the Libyan town of Darna and the Sinai Peninsula in recent weeks raising fears they could be expanding their caliphate in North Africa

Messages Mohommod sent to his girlfriend reveal he was far from happy in Syria.

He moaned about not being able to use his mobile phone while training and feared being caught charging it by other wannabe jihadis.

He wrote: 'Aint allowed to have a phone when training... cos I don't have it on me and I can't charge it without someone grassing me up.'

He also admitted crying to himself at night over worries he might not see his girlfriend in London again.

He wrote: 'I fear we may never see each other again. I was crying bares [lots] last night.'

He later added: 'I'm in danger, you'll lose me if you don't marry me.'

Radicalised foreigners have been drawn to ISIS, which has conducted a series of mass executions and other atrocities since launching its offensive in Iraq and Syria in June.

Last week, U.S. security analysts warned that Islamic State's uprising in Iraq and Syria was gaining influence in North Africa where extremists are now 'mimicking its rhetoric and brutality'.

They revealed how rebel networks in Libya and Egypt have been pledging allegiance to ISIS in recent weeks and are even being helped to set up new terror cells.

The opening of a new front is concerning officials in Washington because the expansion is taking hold in two countries which have struggled to quash extremism in recent years.

In Darna, north-eastern Libya, a group of young militants reportedly from the Islamic Youth Shura Council who claim to control the town, declared its allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi earlier this month.

The terror chief, who has long tried to recruit militants from Al Qaeda, responded by dispatching one of his henchmen to the town to become the group's 'emir' or commander.