Dacic: Serbia watching phenomenon of jihadism with attention

VIENNA - Serbia is watching the phenomenon of jihadism in the world with particular attention, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said in Vienna on Friday.

Serbia is firmly committed to responding to contemporary security challenges, among which the fight against terrorism, all forms of extremism and religious fanaticism represents our urgent common task, Dacic said at a conference on the fight against terrorism.

Serbia itself is facing the problem of its citizens leaving the country to fight in the ranks of the Islamic State (IS), the Serbian minister said.

The number of IS fighters from Serbia - about a hundred people who mostly come from the Raska region and Kosovo-Metohija - is relatively small compared to the total number of foreign fighters, Dacic said.

Serbia is oriented towards contributing to curbing all these threats at regional, European and global level with its partners around the world, the EU in particular, Dacic underscored.

Any equating of Islam with extremism and terrorism must be avoided, and a parallel fight against Islamophobia is also necessary in that sense, Dacic noted.

STEFANOVIC: FIVE PERSONS INDICTED FOR TERRORISM

Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said Friday that Serbia had arrested and filed indictments against five of its citizens suspected of terrorism and connections with terrorist organizations.

Stefanovic, who took part in a conference titled "Tackling Jihadism together. Shaping-Preventing-Reacting" in Vienna today, told Tanjug that Serbia had amended its Criminal Procedure Code by introducing two new crimes - taking part in a war and organizing participation in a war or an armed conflict in a foreign state.