Bosnia and Herzegovina's authorities have accepted the request of the US government to take over and prosecute captured Bosnian nationals who had fought for the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, Bosnia's Security Minister, Dragan Mektic, said on Thursday.

This means that two former Islamic State fighters, who are currently held in custody in Syria, are likely to be transferred back to Bosnia soon, Mektic said, without disclosing their identities.

Earlier this month, in a meeting of officials of countries involved in the US-led coalition combating the Islamic State, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked allied countries to take back captured fighters who are their nationals, in order to put them on trial in their own home countries.

Bosnia’s Foreign Minister, Igor Crnadak, agreed with the plan at the meeting.

In 2014 Bosnia and Herzegovina was among the first countries in Europe to amend its criminal code to ban its nationals from fighting in wars abroad, and introduced criminal penalties for Bosnians going abroad to take part in military conflicts, as well as anyone who helps recruit Bosnians for foreign paramilitary forces.

Bosnia’s Security Minister, Dragan Mektic, said in November that some 500 Bosnian nationals are thought to have taken part in battles in foreign conflict zones.

Some 50 of them were killed there, and another 60 had already returned to the country, Mektic said, and added that they were now being processed by local courts.

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