More Than 3000 Europeans Join IS

More than 3000 Europeans have joined the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq in the past few months, said European Union counter terrorism chief on Tuesday.

The number of Europeans joining the Sunni Jihadist fighters, in the two war-torn nations, has soared by a third, Gilles de Kerchove told AFP in an exclusive interview.

"My own assessment is that we're about 3,000. The flow has not been dried up, and therefore possibly the proclamation of the caliphate has had some impact," de Kerchove said when asked how many European fighters might have joined the extremists' cause.

He further warned that air strikes carried out by the U.S.-led forces, might result in more intense retaliatory attacks by the Islamic state rebels. "I think we have to acknowledge that it will. That was clear with the French because three days ago Isil [IS] issued a statement saying there would be retaliation against the coalition. A French man was kidnapped in Algeria and he has been beheaded. So they did what they announced," BBC reports.

In June, he had said that around 2,000 fighters from Europe had joined the group.

He emphasized that the declaration of a caliphate might have triggered the flow of Europeans into the militant group, The Global Post reports.

"If you believe in this, probably you want to be part of it as early as possible," de Kerchove added.

Earlier known as the Islamic State and the Levant (ISIL), the terrorist group declared a caliphate or Islamic State in parts of Iraq and Syria, on June 29, 2014; adding that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi - now known as Amir al-Mu'minin Caliph Ibrahim - was its caliph.

He stressed that it should not be forgotten that the IS has many volunteers, weapons and vehicles and it was too soon to even think of "winning" against it.