Germany wants to tighten up the EU’s external border controls to stop European fighters coming home from Syria and Iraq.

The border-free Schengen zone inside the EU makes it harder to track returning jihadists, Berlin says.

An estimated three thousand EU nationals are fighting for Islamist groups in the two countries.

“We don‘t want terror to be exported from Europe and we certainly don‘t want trained fighters to return to Europe and Germany and possibly plan attacks here,” said Thomas De Maizere .

“We need to make sure … that every border official on the EU‘s external borders knows if the person leaving is a foreign fighter,” he added.

EU anti-terror chief Gilles de Kerchove also said he would push again to set up a European database of passenger information, which was originally rejected by the European Parliament.

ISIL has developed a media hub to publish their propaganda online; the group is also active on social media.

Top tech companies, such as Twitter, have so far rebuffed EU demands to vet content before it is uploaded.