France: Nationals joining Islamic State doubled since January

PARIS, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- France has seen a doubling in the number of its citizens joining the Islamic State since January, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Sunday.

"There is a considerable increase in the number of departures," he told Europe 1 in a radio interview.

Cazeneuve estimates there are 375 French citizens "in the theater of operations in Syria and Iraq."

One of the reasons for the increase, he said, is the ability of terrorists to use the Internet to reach potential recruits in France. "Terrorist groups are powerfully organized on the Internet... They are calling on vulnerable youths to commit to carrying out very big terrorist acts."

France is working to counter such recruitment attempts through new legislation. The interior minister noted that those efforts include shutting down "propaganda sites, blogs and videos."

The United Nations Security Council, of which France is a permanent member, voted unanimously in September to adopt an international counter-terrorism resolution on foreign fighters.