Azerbaijan arrests five for fighting in Syria, Iraq

In July and August, the country sentenced 13 men to prison for fighting alongside IS

BAKU: Azerbaijan has arrested five men for fighting alongside Islamic State group militants in Syria and Iraq, authorities in the majority-Muslim Caucasus nation said on Tuesday.

The men, all Azerbaijani nationals, "were detained on suspicion of taking part in armed conflicts abroad, inciting religious hatred and setting up an illegal armed group," Azerbaijan's national security ministry said in a statement.

Read: Pakistani among 7 people charged with supporting IS group in Germany

"In 2013-2015, they were fighting in the ranks of the IS terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq, Al-Nusra Front and Jund al-Sham," the ministry said.

Media in the the energy-rich ex-Soviet republic had previously reported numerous cases of citizens fighting for jihadists in Syria and Iraq, including within the Jaish al-Muhajireen wal Ansar group consisting mostly of Islamists from the former Soviet Union.

Read: Spain, Morocco arrest 14 suspected of recruiting for Islamic State

In July and August, the predominantly Muslim but secular country sentenced 13 men to prison for fighting alongside IS, which has seized large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.

In September 2014, Azerbaijan's security ministry said it had arrested 26 men for setting up "illegal armed groups and supplying them with weapons" in Pakistan, Syria and Iraq, with some of them fighting in the ranks of IS.

Some of the 26 first joined Taliban-affiliated groups in Pakistan and then moved to Syria, while others arrived in Syria via Turkey, Azerbaijan's security ministry said at the time.

Around 25,000 foreign fighters from over 100 countries are involved in armed conflicts worldwide, with the highest numbers in Syria, Iraq and increasingly Libya, according to a United Nations report published this year.