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Australia's national security intelligence service said on Thursday that the number of new arrivals of Australian jihadists in the Middle East was roughly keeping pace with the fatalities.
At an Senate hearing, the Australian Secret Intelligence Organization (ASIO) Deputy Director-General Kerri Hartland said extremists from Australia suffered heavy casualties during the battles in Syria and Iraq.
"The overall number of Australians currently fighting with or supporting Islamic extremist groups in Syria and Iraq has remained consistent over recent months," Hartland was quoted as saying by the local Fairfax Media.
According to her, at least 20 Australians have been killed in the Middle East but more people are going and the rates of arrivals and deaths are about the same.
She said the ASIO findings indicate a comparatively high casualty rate for Australian fighters, with "the numbers of new arrivals roughly keeping pace with the fatalities."
Since the civil war erupted in Syria in 2011, thousands of fighters from Western countries of Middle East origin have joined some extremist groups to fight against President Bashar al-Assad's government.
Some of them are Australians trained on the battle field and joined the Islamic State (IS), a radical armed group committing horrifying attacks against civilians in the past two years.
According to ASIO, the western jihadists also crossed border with IS into Iraq and launched wars against the Iraqi government forces, with the current number of Australian fighters remaining stable at about 70 in the two countries.
The Australian government has been deeply worried about possible terrorist attacks by the IS agents hidden in the country and joined multinational military actions against the militants in Iraq.
Based on the suggestions of ASIO, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has already canceled about 100 passports of Australians who were suspected to join extremist group. Enditem
