More than 14 Americans are reportedly fighting alongside the Islamic State militants, including one from New Jersey, according to a Western journalist who was able to spend time inside the jihadist group's self-styled "Caliphate" for a period of 10 days.
German journalist Jürgen Todenhöfer, the first reporter to be embedded with the terrorist organization since the launch of U.S. airstrikes four months ago, came into contact with more than 14 American fighters from different backgrounds - "both American born and Arab-Americans as well as white," he told ABC News.
"I have seen many wars. That's the strongest group I ever met. Very strong, very clever, very enthusiastic. They are extremely brutal. Not just head-cutting. I'm talking about the strategy of religious cleansing," Todenhöfer, who is writing a book on ISIS, said.
"That's their official philosophy. They are talking about 500 million people who have to die," he told ABC News.
After contacting 80 jihadists through letters about seven months ago for his book, Todenhöfer developed a relationship with two of them and was eventually able to travel to the self-styled Islamic State.
"The guy from New Jersey. This surprised me," he added. "You don't expect someone from N.J. going to join the Islamic State. ... They were very tough, well informed. Some of them very successful in their own countries."
"In Iraq, 30 percent are foreign fighters; in Syria, 70 percent. They feel discriminated in their countries. They want to live in an Islamic state where no one can bother them and no one can discriminate against them. They are completely sure they will win this fight," he said.
Meanwhile, U.S. authorities have acknowledged that Americans have traveled overseas to join the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, raising concerns about homegrown terrorist attacks carried out by these individuals once they return to the United States, Breitbart reported.
"While the organization currently operates in the Middle East, the group has foreign members who might be able to travel into Europe and possibly into America," FBI Director James Comey told Breitbart Texas in August. "That is why the FBI has been working to monitor any attempts of such travel as well as their efforts to recruit individuals in the United States."
