Security services have identified 350 Islamic State militants who have returned to Britain from Syria and who pose a potential terror threat.

This is in addition to the 3,000 violent Islamist extremists that MI5 has confirmed are already in the country, Whitehall sources have told The Times.

MI5 has said 850 people have traveled from the UK to Islamic State-controlled parts of Syria.  Whilst some that have returned are designated as ‘disillusioned with extremism’ and allegedly pose no danger, a large number subscribe to Islamist ideology and are trained to handle firearms and explosives.

At the end of 2016, the Belgian interior minister said a “wave” of between 3,000 and 5,000 Islamic State jihadists who have European passports could return to the continent, as the terror group begins to lose territory in Iraq and Syria.