REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BERLIN -- The number of Germans fighting alongside Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq has increased sharply to 550 and around 180 have returned, according to the head of Germany's domestic intelligence in a newspaper interview published on Sunday.

"We are concerned about the high number of departures. Especially in the last six weeks, it has risen further," Hans-Georg Maassen told Welt am Sonntag.

"By now we are counting 550 people, that is how many have left Germany to go to Syria and Iraq," he added. 

The previous number was 450 people. Around 60 of them have been killed during fighting, with at least nine killing themselves in suicide attacks, Maassen said. "That is a sad success for the Islamist propaganda."

As with other Western European countries, Germany is struggling to stop the radicalization of young Muslims, some of whom want to become militants in Syria or Iraq. Officials also worry that they might return to plot attacks on home soil. Since Germany was part of the alliance fighting Islamic State, the country was "naturally" a target for the militants as well as al Qaeda members, Maassen said.

Intelligence services estimated that around 180 men had returned to Germany after having fought in Syria and Iraq, Maassen said. In one of the largest sweeps against alleged militants in Germany yet, authorities last week arrested nine men suspected of supporting militant groups in Syria and raided numerous properties in several German states.

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