Mosul battle: EU 'should prepare for returning jihadists'

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The EU should be prepared for returning jihadists if the so-called Islamic State (IS) is driven out of its Iraqi stronghold, Mosul, an official warns.
Security Commissioner Julian King said even a small number of militants would pose "a serious threat that we must prepare ourselves for".
Iraqi forces say they have captured 10 villages near Mosul since beginning their long-awaited offensive on Monday.
As many as 5,000 IS fighters are believed to remain in the city.
Advance on Mosul 'ahead of schedule'
Iraq's beleaguered second city
Battle must navigate ethnic rivalries
Government troops, moving in from the south, are currently some 40km (24 miles) from the city, while Kurdish fighters are some 30km to the east.

 

The International Committee of the Red Cross has appealed to all sides to show their humanity as aid agencies brace for what they say could be the largest man-made humanitarian crisis of recent times.
How big is the threat to Europe?
Julian King, a British diplomat recently made the EU's security commissioner, told Die Welt newspaper (in German) the threat of IS fighters returning to Europe after the fall of Mosul was "very serious".
There were currently about 2,500 fighters from EU countries in the combat zones, he said.
However, he stressed it was "very unlikely that there would be a mass exodus of IS fighters to Europe".
Similar cases in the past had shown, he said, that "only a few fighters come back". But he added: "I don't want to talk the risk down. Even a small number constitutes a threat."
Some of the militants involved in the deadly IS attack on Paris last November had recently returned from Syria.
Collapse of IS 'will lead to attacks'
Is so-called Islamic State finished?
What is the latest on the offensive?
Some 34,000 Iraqi security personnel, Kurdish fighters, Sunni Muslim Arab tribesmen and Shia Muslim paramilitaries have been deployed against IS, with backing from the US, France and others.
Photos from one of the freed villages, Badana, show the dead bodies of two suspected IS fighters.
IS has issued a video, said to have been recorded in the Mosul area, which shows militants firing at a distant column of armoured vehicles. One vehicle appears to be alight.
In another video, which purports to show fighters patrolling Mosul by night, an IS spokesman goads the group's enemies to engage it in battle.

France's Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has warned the fight to liberate Mosul in its entirety could take a long time.
"It's not a blitzkrieg," he said. "It's a city with 1.5 million residents, so it's a long-term project - several weeks, maybe months."
Meanwhile, the Syrian army accused the US-led coalition of planning to allow IS fighters in Mosul to flee into Syria, Reuters news agency reports.
The army, which has no control over Syria's border with Iraq, was quoted as saying it would resist any attempt by fighters to cross.
The commander of Iraq's Counter-Terrorism Service, Maj-Gen Fadhil Jalil al-Barwari, has been quoted by the New Arab website as saying IS fighters are being offered two corridors "to go to Syria".
Kurds describe fighting IS
How are civilians coping in Mosul?
An Iraqi-American journalist who has been on the outskirts of Mosul and has relatives in the city said the situation there was currently calm.
Steven Nabil said people were feeling a mixture of excitement at the prospect of being liberated, and "stress and worry" over what dangers the offensive would bring.