'10,000 Islamic State fighters still in Syria, situation untenable': Blinken

Urging the allies of the United States to bring back citizens arrested for joining the Islamic State terror group, Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday said 10,000 IS fighters are still be held in detention in camps run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Calling the situation "untenable", Blinken called on the 78 member countries of the coalition against Islamic State.

According to US, the 10,000 suspected Islamic State fighters are being held in northern Syria by Western-allied Kurdish fighters.

Blinken, who is in Rome, was speaking at the opening of a meeting to renew international efforts to combat the Islamist militia.

In his opening remarks, Blinken said, "This situation is simply untenable. It just can't persist indefinitely. The United States continues to urge countries of origin, including coalition partners, to repatriate, rehabilitate, and where applicable, prosecute their citizens."

Suggesting another significant way to defeat Islamic State, Blinken said that addressing threats from the group outside Iraq and Syria, especially from Africa, on a permanent basis is required.

A Human Rights Watch report in March confirmed that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces are holding more than 63,000 women and children of suspected Islamic State fighters from more than 60 countries in two camps surrounded by barbed wire.

An offshoot of al Qaeda, the Islamic State has captured major chunks of Iraq and Syria for seven years now. The terrorist group has imposed a reign of terror with public beheadings and attacks by foreign supporters.

Even after the Islamic State was declared militarily defeated in 2017, it has waged a continuing insurgency across parts of parts of northern Iraq and a porous border with neighbouring Syria.

The Islamic State group has lost almost all of its territory in Syria and Iraq, where it once ran a vast self-styled caliphate marked by an extraordinary campaign of brutality against religious minorities and women.

Indicating their firm holding over terrorism activities, Islamic State militants have taken responsibility for more than 25 deadly attacks in the recent months.

In a crowded Baghdad, IS bombed a market in January which killed more than 30 people.

Militant groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State have also grown stronger in recent years, despite the deployment of thousands of regional, Western and UN troops across West Africa's Sahel region.

With inputs from Agencies