Bosnia Arrests 16 Suspected Jihadists

Bosnian police arrested 16 people Wednesday on charges of joining European-based Islamists and helping them travel to fight in Syria and Iraq.

"Sixteen people were arrested" in an operation across the capital Sarajevo and several other Bosnian towns, said Kristina Jozic, a spokeswoman for the state police agency SIPA.

"They are suspected of having recruited, organized and financed the departure of Bosnian nationals to Syria or Iraq, or of taking part in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq alongside foreign radical terrorist organizations and groups," Jozic said.

Bosnia passed a law in April allowing for prison terms of up to 10 years for convicted Islamist radicals and their recruiters.

Officials estimate that around 150 Bosnian citizens have joined Islamist groups fighting in Iraq and Syria and that 20 have been killed there.

Bosnian Muslims make up 40 percent of the country's 3.8 million inhabitants, most of whom practice a moderate form of Islam.

However, during the 1992-1995 war between Croats, Muslims and Serbs, a large number of jihadist volunteers came to Bosnia, often staying on in the country.

In neighboring Kosovo, authorities have also been fighting the rising extremism among its 1.78 million ethnic Albanians, the majority of them Muslim.

The majority practice moderate Islam and keep strong political links with the Western world.

Forty-five ethnic Albanians suspected of links to the Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria have been arrested, while 16 have been killed on the frontlines in Syria and Iraq.

Paris-based watchdog Reporters Without Borders called on Kosovo authorities Wednesday to protect a journalist who has received death threats for repeatedly drawing attention to the rise of Muslim extremism.

"Reporters Without Borders is extremely concerned about Visar Duriqi, a Kosovar journalist specializing in political Islam, and calls on the Kosovo interior ministry to provide him with protection," the group said in a statement.

It said "Duriqi's coverage of Islamic issues and religious extremism has been a source of annoyance in radical circles".

"The threats should be taken seriously," RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said.

Duriqi has received dozens of threats via social networks, some of them threatening him with beheading, notably after the murder of US journalist James Foley on August 19.

Duriqi has written a series of articles investigating how young Kosovo Muslims were persuaded by extreme imams to go to Syria to join jihadist groups.

"If Wahhabism is not taken seriously in Kosovo, as did Malaysia, they might exercise their practical knowledge here for suicide attacks," Duriqi wrote.

According to local intelligence reports, some 150 volunteer jihadists from Kosovo are also believed to be fighting in Syria on the side of rebels seeking the overthrow of President Bashar Assad.

Here are links to the investigative work of Visar Duriqi:

http://www.gazetaexpress.com/lajme/kush-eshte-lavdrim-muhaxheri-24969/

http://www.gazetaexpress.com/en/news/who-is-lavdrim-muhaxheri-69-37296/