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Congress demands allies crack down on IS foreign fighters

Lawmakers of both parties are threatening to tighten travel restrictions on countries that don't incarcerate returning fighters.
Militant Islamist fighters wave flags as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province June 30, 2014. The fighters held the parade to celebrate their declaration of an Islamic "caliphate" after the group captured territory in neighbouring Iraq, a monitoring service said. The Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot previously known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), posted pictures online on Sunday of people waving black flags from cars and holding guns in

US lawmakers threatened to make it harder for foreigners to travel to the United States if their countries don't take tougher action to stop their citizens from joining the Islamic State.

Bipartisan frustration with the continued flow of foreign fighters to Syria and Iraq spilled out into the open Dec. 2 as the State Department's point person on the issue testified before Congress for the first time. Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee repeatedly warned Robert Bradtke that US allies must do more to stop what a recent UN report deems to be an "unprecedented" influx of 15,000 fighters from 80 countries who have joined the Islamic State (IS) and similar groups.

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