According to security officers from Iraqi Kurdistan, Syria and Lebanon, there are an estimated 300 Chinese citizens fighting with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, reports Global Times.

The lax policies of the Turkish government have reportedly allowed extremists to easily enter the country where they are able to join up with the Islamic State jihadist group.

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"The fact that these extremists can easily enter Turkey and later travel to Syria and Iraq to join IS is a direct consequence of the Turkish government's ambiguous policies," said a source familiar with China's anti-terrorism operations. "If there weren't so many illegal passports and visas available, there would not be so many members of ETIM in Syria and Iraq," the source noted.

Due to illegal issuances of passports and visas, as well as customs loopholes in some Southeast Asian countries, Islamist extremists have been able to travel to Turkey and then go on to join the jihadists, reports Global Times.

A senior security official from the Kurdish region of Iraq told the newspaper that terrorists from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) have travelled to Syria via southeastern Turkey's Sanliurfa Province to join the Islamic State jihadist group.

The official shared an Islamic State video that showed a teenage boy sitting in the driver's seat of a vehicle.  The subtitles on the video claim the teenager was "a Chinese brother before he did a martyrdom operation (suicide bomb attack) in the town of Suleiman."

However, the Turkish Embassy in China has denied that it has issued passports to Xinjiang residents, and called the claims that Turkey intentionally and illegally issued passsports "ridiculous," adding that it only issues passports to Turkish citizens.

Sources told Global Times that the ETIM militants, which were previously independent, have added "IS" to the name of their organizations to show that they have officially pledged allegiance to the jihadist group and formed a new sub-division under IS.

TagsHundreds of Chinese Join Islamic State Fighters, Iraqi Kurdistan, Lebanon East Turkestan Islamic Movement, Sanliurfa Province, Turkish embassy in Beijing, Turkey