The EU’s security commissioner warned Tuesday that Europe must be prepared for a new influx of ISIL Takfiris if Iraqi forces retake the group’s  stronghold of Mosul.

“The retaking of the ISIL’ northern Iraq stronghold, Mosul, may lead to the return to Europe of violent ISIL-militants,” Julian King told Die Welt daily in remarks published in German.

He said even a handful of terrorists returning would pose a “serious threat that we must prepare ourselves for”.

Iraqi forces are advancing in an offensive aimed at retaking Mosul and dealing a death blow to the ISIL group’s “caliphate” in the city where it was declared two years ago.

Some 30,000 federal forces are leading the offensive, backed by volunteer fighters of the Popular Mobilization forces, in what is expected to be a long and difficult assault on ISIL’s last major Iraqi stronghold.

The terrorists have suffered a string of territorial defeats this year in both countries, and the retaking of Mosul would all but end their presence in Iraq as a land-holding force.

Source: AFP