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Fighters of more than 70 nationalities, among them 122 Azerbaijanis, joined the terrorist group Islamic State, website of Armenian-American newspaper Asbarez reports citing Agence France Presse.  

According to the information, an analysis conducted by the Center for Combating Terrorism provided not only a composite picture of the fighters, but also an insight into how the IS is “attempting to vet new members.” The average age of recruits was 26 or 27. Only 400 were under 18. 

It is noted that the leading nationality with 579 new fighters was Saudi, followed by Tunisian (559), Moroccan (240), Turkish (212), Egyptian (151) and Russian (141). There were 49 from France, 38 from Germany, 30 from Lebanon, 26 from Britain, 11 from Australia and 11 from Canada. 

Meanwhile, the website of the Ukrainian TV channel podrobnosti.ua writes that the IS recruits students from Muslim countries. 

Alexander Pivovar, the head of the Kharkov Regional Department of the Security Service of Ukraine, said that a student from Jordan at Kharkov University has joined the IS. Last autumn he blasted himself in the Iraqi capital. His father said that a couple from Azerbaijan, whom the man had allegedly met in Kharkov, had recruited him through the internet.  

“The IS ideologists are already making attempts to recruit foreign students as potential terrorists,” Alexander Pivovar said.  

The Azerbaijani terrorists have long been fighting in the ranks of various terrorist groups in Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Azerbaijani media reported about the death of about 200 Azerbaijani terrorists Syria alone over the past three years. There have also been frequent media reports about Azerbaijani terrorist commanders’ liquidation. 

The relationship between international terrorist groups and Azerbaijan originates in the early 1990s. Back then, the Azerbaijani army, having failed in the aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), retreated with losses. Trying to save the situation, the Azerbaijani leadership, headed by Heydar Aliyev attracted to the war against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh international terrorists and members of radical groups from Afghanistan (groupings of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar), Turkey ("Grey Wolves", etc.), Chechnya (groupings Basayev and Raduyev etc.) and some other regions. 

Despite the involvement of thousands of foreign mercenaries and terrorists in the Azerbaijani army during the war, the Azerbaijani aggression against the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic failed, and the Baku authorities were forced to sign an armistice with the NKR and Armenia. However, international terrorists established ties in Azerbaijan, and used them in the future. Azerbaijanis were recruited and sent to Afghanistan and the North Caucasus, where they participated in the battles against the forces of the international coalition and Russian organizations. Over the recent years, citizens of Azerbaijan have been actively engaged in terrorism and extremist activities in Russia, Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq.