Around 12 Americans Fighting in Syria, Says FBI

FBI Director James Comey said Thursday that around 12 Americans are believed to be fighting alongside Islamic State in Syria presently.

However, he added that more than 100 Americans have attempted to go to Syria and were arrested. Some also went to Syria and returned, he said.

"When I use a number of more than 100 that means people who have gone and come back, people who have attempted to go and we locked them up, people who have gone and stayed," Comey said. "The figure that I've been operating with is, ballparkish, a dozen still there fighting with terrorist groups," he said, reports the Associated Press.

On the other hand, U.S. government officials believe that more than 100 U.S. fighters are there in Syria.

The director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Matthew Olsen,said last week that more than a hundred Americans and 2000 Europeans have gone to Syria over the past three years.

Many other U.S. officials also believe that there more than 100 fighters in Syria.

"Coupled with 30,000 of these ISIS fighters, 15,000 are foreign fighters, over 100 American U.S. citizens. Many of these fighters have Western passports," said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, reports AP.

Meanwhile, European Union's anti-terrorism chief, Gilles de Kerchove, has said that a number of Europeans who have joined the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq has increased to more than 3000, reports the BBC..

The number includes those who have gone to Syria and Iraq, those who have returned and those who died there, he said.

He also said that Islamic State's announcement of a caliphate may have contributed to the sudden support from Europe to the group.

"If you believe in this, probably you want to be part of it as early as possible," he said, reports BBC.