DEAD TERRORISTS CAN’T HARM US

New Defence Secretary says British citizens who fought for IS should be ‘eliminated’ — NOT allowed to return

BRITONS who have fought for Islamic State should not be allowed home, the Defence Secretary declared last night.

Gavin Williamson said the estimated 270 UK jihadis in Syria and Iraq would instead be hunted down and killed.

‘A dead terrorist can’t cause any harm to Britain,’ he told the Mail. ‘I do not believe that any terrorist, whether they come from this country or any other, should ever be allowed back into this country.

‘We should do everything we can do to destroy and eliminate that threat.’

In october the terror watchdog said some fighters should be allowed home to rejoin society. Max Hill QC said it was not worth losing a generation of ‘naive’ young people.

But Mr Williamson appears to have emphatically rejected that argument. He said the jihadis ‘hate everything that Britain stands for, hate our values, hate that Britain is a beacon to the world of democracy and tolerance’.

He added: ‘our forces are right across the globe degrading and destroying that threat, making sure that these people who want to bring destruction, death, bloodshed onto our streets aren’t able to come back.

‘that is as important a part of the jigsaw as what we actually do on the streets in Britain.

‘every day we have got British service personnel making a difference to make sure some

of those people that want to cause that harm are never able to come back to this country. That is something I am incredibly proud of.’

Defence sources said UK jihadis would either be taken out in airstrikes by warplanes or drones operated from RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire. They are thought to be working through a ‘kill list’ of targets – particularly those plotting attacks on home soil.

More than 800 UK citizens are believed to have joined IS in Iraq and Syria. Around half have returned, around 130 have been killed, leaving an estimated 270 left in the Middle East. It is understood that British fighters will have their passports taken from them if they try to cross international borders, stopping them coming home.

Mr Williamson said: ‘We have got to make sure that as they splinter and as they disperse across Iraq and Syria and other areas, we continue to hunt them down. Make sure there is no safe space for them, that they can’t go to other countries preaching their hate, preaching their cult of death.’

The former chief whip, who was given a Cabinet job only last month, added: ‘Our job in terms of eliminating will not stop this year, will not stop next year, it is something we have got to continue to pursue.

‘That is about keeping Britain safe just as much as making sure we have the right response here in Britain.’

Figures disclosed by the Ministry of Defence show that drone operations in Syria are on the rise. There was one Reaper strike in 2015, but 24 in 2016 and 31 so far in 2017. In Iraq there have been 352 Reaper strikes since 2014 and 663 by Tornado planes and 402 by Typhoons.

Mr Williamson added: ‘Let’s not underestimate the role that they (jihadis) are playing on foreign fields. Yes the threat manifests itself on the streets of Great Britain.

‘But actually so much of what is done to activate it is done in places, whether it be Libya, whether it be Iraq, whether it be Syria. And we have a duty, and this is what we are doing right across the globe, degrading and destroying that threat.’

Coalition airstrikes killed about 45,000 IS fighters up until August last year. In September a top commander said secret strikes by RAF warplanes against jihadis in Iraq and Syria had stopped a series of homegrown terror attacks.

Air Commodore Johnny Stringer said British citizens had been killed in the missions against IS strongholds.

The extremist group has a special unit dedicated to mounting atrocities in the UK and Europe.

The head of MI5 has said the terror threat facing is at the ‘highest tempo’ of his 34year career. And on Tuesday Andrew Parker told the Cabinet his spies have foiled nine terror attacks in the UK in 12 months.

These included alleged plans to create carnage at tourist attractions, government buildings, pop concerts and carry out knife and vehicle rampages.