About 930 French citizens or residents, including at least 60 women, are either actively engaged in jihad in Iraq and Syria or are planning to go there, the interior minister said on Sunday.

In an interview with Le Journal de Dimanche weekly, Bernard Cazeneuve said: "Nine hundred thirty French citizens or foreigners usually resident in France are today involved in jihad in Iraq and Syria."

According to the minister, 350 - including 60 women - are on the ground. "Around 180 have left from Syria and 170 are en route for the zone," he said.

In addition, about 230 people are looking to head to areas held by jihadists. Added to this total of 930, an estimated 36 have already died out there, said Cazeneuve.

Western governments have voiced concern about the possibility of their citizens joining Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria and then returning home to commit atrocities.

The man who carried out the apparent beheading of British aid worker David Haines speaks with a British accent. Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq and Syria released a video on Saturday that purported to show the beheading of David Haines, who was kidnapped last year.

On Sunday, France strongly condemned the murder of Haines by Islamic State militants, and called for an international mobilization to fight the Islamist group.

"The heinous murder of David Haines shows once again how the international community must mobilize against Daesh," the French presidency said in statement, referring to the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

Cazeneuve said that some returning jihadists boast about what they have done and "say they are ready to leave again".

"Others, destroyed by the violence and atrocities they saw or participated in, say they no longer want to be involved.

"Some claim to have left on a humanitarian mission, but we have reliable information that they fought in jihadist ranks," the minister said.

He announced that "at least 70" people had been prevented from leaving after authorities received around 350 alerts about possible jihadists.

France has created a law aimed at stopping aspiring jihadists from traveling, which includes a ban on foreign travel of up to six months for individuals suspected of radicalization and gives authorities powers to temporarily confiscate and invalidate their passports.

AFP - Reuters

(China Daily 09/15/2014 page12)