Norwegian radicals in Syria mostly with little education: PST report

Most Norwegian radicals who traveled from Norway to Syria to fight in militant groups, are young men with little education and no job, the Norwegian news agency NTB reported on Wednesday, quoting a report by the Norwegian anti-terror agency PST.

An unspecified number of young Norwegian Muslim citizens have been radicalized and recruited as foreign fighters in the Syrian civil war.

Most of them have no family ties to Syria and some even have links to criminal groups, said the PST report.

They score low in schools and they are poorly integrated or affiliated with the Norwegian society, said Alana Bjoernland, the PST chief.

The report divides the Syria "travelers" into two categories -- those who travel to Syria to achieve status in another way other than through education and those who are vulnerable to radicalization because of low socioeconomic status.

Many of those in the first category are many "highly gifted individuals who have previously been well integrated in their own local communities."

Those in the second category are often people who have had difficulty finding their place in society since adolescence, according to the PST report.

The Norwegian anti-terror agency believes that radicalized Norwegians after fighting in Syria would pose a heightened terrorist threat against Norway and Norwegian interests.