The Government says there's a handful of Kiwis fighting with the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq, but it seems there could be far more Islamic State fighters with Kiwi ties.

Newshub can reveal several IS fighters and recruits studied in New Zealand, following the death of an IS bomb maker who had been a scholarship student in Auckland.

Four days ago, an IS bomb maker who'd studied in New Zealand was killed in Saudi Arabia. Authorities report he was wearing a suicide vest.

Abdulmalik Altamimi is another student who studied English in New Zealand, and even made the local paper, in an article celebrating Saudi Arabian students at the Waikato Institute of Education.

But just two weeks after he posted the story on his Facebook page, he was signing up for terrorism.

As well as Altamimi, one IS fighter lists New Zealand as the only place he's travelled, while another suicide bomber also listed travel to New Zealand.

In one of the IS training camps a civil engineer says he's from the Arabian Peninsula and New Zealand.

Bill English, on his first overseas trip as Prime Minister, told Newshub he "couldn't say for sure" the Government is aware of all militants with links to New Zealand.

"I'm advised the right checks are in place and we can feel confident that students coming in are being scrutinised" Mr English said.

"We can't always be responsible for what people do after they've left New Zealand."

The danger now lies in any of these fighters returning to New Zealand. Thirty-two people were killed when twin bombs went off at the Brussels Airport and a metro station in March 2016, an attack by Belgians returning from Syria.

Newshub.

