Isil fighter hiding in Calais migrant camp with aim of committing terror attacks in Britain

Migrants seen walking next to a motorway to the fence of the Eurotunnel in Calais, France  Photo: Imago / Barcroft

An Isil fighter from Syria is hiding in a migrant camp in Calais with the aim of illegally entering Britain to commit “terror attacks”, according to local French media.

French police have been told to locate and arrest the man who left Syria in August and is on a French terror suspect watch list known as “fiche S”, according to La Voix du Nord, the regional French newspaper.

"His intention is to reach Britain to commit terrorist attacks," it wrote, without citing sources.

The northern French daily said that police believe the man is living among some 3,500 migrants in a makeshift camp known as the “Jungle”, which the French government has announced will become an official refugee camp with 1,500 places early next year.

The migrant camp known as The Jungle in Calais, France  Photo: CAMERA PRESS

The terror suspect watch list includes some 5,000 people, who are theoretically flagged to authorities when they undergo an identity check, for example during airport passport controls. The file includes a person’s identity, a photograph, reason for the person being on the list and how to handle the individual if identified.

It is not known how authorities were first informed of the Isil fighter's presence.

According to La Voix du Nord, police are under orders to “proceed with his arrest”. Local state authorities declined to comment but denied previous reports that around 40 detectives had infiltrated migrants in Calais to detect any potential Isil fighters in their midst.

A local police source also declined to confirm the report, but told the Telegraph: "Who can guarantee that among the thousands of Syrians arriving in Europe are not some jihadists?"

Migrant aid charities in Calais on Wednesday said that the presence of a jihadist fighter among migrants in Calais was “entirely possible” as it is a zone where no identity checks are carried out.

However, some people were sceptical. Claudine, a volunteer with the Salaam charity told La Voix du Nord: “If a jihadist wants to go to England, he doesn’t need to hide. He’ll have money, a false passport and a network – not like our migrant friends here who are struggling to request asylum (in France) or to get into England.”

There are currently 3,500 migrants of Asian and African origin sleeping rough at a camp on the outskirts of the town “tolerated” by local authorities, and 120 women and children are in sheltered accommodation at a former children's summer camp nearby, called the Jules Ferry centre.

Hundreds more migrants camp out in wasteland closer to the motorways leading to the ferry port.

Many make nightly attempts to break into the Eurotunnel site leading to the Channel Tunnel entrance in the hope of climbing onto UK-bound Shuttle trains carrying lorries.

In recent days, migrants have targeted the Calais-Fréthun Eurostar stationat the French end of the Eurotunnel whose security is being improved.

Iraq Defence Minister Survives Assassination Attempt

Iraqi Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi’s convoy came under sniper fire but he was unharmed, a ministry spokesman said.

Joint operations spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool said the attack took place in the western outskirts of the town of Beiji, 190km north of Baghdad.

“The minister is well and safe,” Rasool told Reuters news agency. He said a guard had been lightly injured in the attack.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack which took place on Monday.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abbadi has said the battle over Beiji and its refinery, Iraq’s largest, is critical to the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group.

If Iraqi security forces and Shia militia fighters regain full control of the area around Beiji, it could help them push north towards the ISIL-held city of Mosul and offset losses in the western province of Anbar.

Obeidi was in Beiji as part of a field visit to Salahuddin province. He earlier inspected troops at Camp Speicher, a former US military base, and later toured Tikrit, the home city of former President Saddam Hussein, a ministry statement said.

Beiji has been a battlefront for more than a year, since its seizure by ISIL in June 2014 as they swept through most of northern and western Iraq towards the capital.

ISIL holds about a third of Iraq and neighbouring Syria in its self-declared “caliphate.”

A US-led coalition is conducting air strikes to target ISIL across both Syria and Iraq.