European countries in contact with Damascus on Western fighters

English.news.cn (Xinhua) -- Syria's Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said Tuesday that some European countries are in contact with Damascus regarding the growing number of Western radicals fighting alongside the rebels in the war-torn country.Declining to name the countries and the contact methods, al- Zoubi told pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV that these countries fear that the terrorism in Syria will have repercussion on their own region, given that many fighters in Syria are foreigners, including Europeans, who may return to their original countries even more radicalized.His remarks came after Bashar Ja'afari, Syria's ambassador to the UN, revealed on Tuesday that the Syrian troops had captured around 300 Saudi fighters.Earlier in the day, the local al-Watan daily said that the Syrian troops killed tens of Afghani fighters in the north.Yet, the Western countries fear the return of their nationals, who may have fought alongside the al-Qaida-linked groups.Some U.S. security officials recently warned that some American fighters in Syria may unleash terrorist attacks on the U.S. soil after they have come back."We know that American citizens as well as Canadian and European nationals have taken up arms in Syria, Yemen and in Somalia. The threat that these individuals could return home to carry out attacks is real and troubling," U.S. Senator Thomas Carper said recently.Some Western media reports placed the numbers of Western jihadists, who carry passports of theUnited States and Europe in Syria, at more than 1,000.