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Over 2,000 citizens of SCO states fight for international extremist groups

SCO competent bodies were carrying out search, operational, informational and propaganda measures to counteract that negative phenomenon, SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Center official said

ASTANA, June 29 /TASS/. More than 2,000 citizens of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) states are fighting on the side of extremists in third countries, Taalay Musabayev, deputy director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Center, said on Monday.

"According to our information, more than 2,000 militants from our (SCO) countries are fighting abroad. They will become the main force in undermining the state foundations in their home countries upon their return," Musabayev said in his speech at the regional conference of Central and South Asian states on violent extremism.

Musabayev noted that the SCO competent bodies were carrying out search, operational, informational and propaganda measures to counteract that negative phenomenon. "We have increased border control on posts of entry into and exit from regions of increased terrorist activity. We have established control over passenger flows on international routes and over militants who return home from abroad," he added.

According to Musabayev, it is also necessary to stop the flows of militants, weapons, ammunition and drugs into areas of terrorist activity. "But this task requires from us new methods of interaction as well as mechanisms of consolidation and coordination," Musabayev said.

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