Germany considers taking Isil suspects

GERMANY is considering bringing home suspected Isil fighters and their families currently being held by Kurdish forces in Syria, it has emerged.

The development will add to international pressure on the UK to repatriate Britons suspected of joining Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), who are held under similar circumstances – including two members of the notorious “Beatles” execution cell.

“The federal government is examining all options for a possible return of German nationals,” the foreign ministry in Berlin said yesterday in a written response to a parliamentary question.

At least 35 German citizens are believed to be among the prisoners – 14 of whom are under investigation as suspected Isil fighters. They are thought to include Mohammed Haydar Zammar, who has been linked to a terror attack in New York last year in which a truck was driven into cyclists and runners, killing eight.

Kurdish forces say they cannot prosecute the prisoners or hold them indefinitely, yet so far the UK has not bowed to pressure from them or the US to take back their citizens. \

British detainees include El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey – accused of being part of the “Beatles” squad that included Mohammed Emwazi, alias “Jihadi John”, who was killed in a US air strike in 2015. (© Daily Telegraph London)