The French military seems to be inadvertently feeding terrorist organizations with combat-hardened and well-trained recruits.

According to a soon-to-be-released study conducted by the French think-tank Centre d’analyse du terrorisme (CAT), dozens of former French servicemen have joined the ranks of terrorist groups. Most of these Jihadists served in Special Operations or elite units, one of which is the French Foreign Legion.

The French leading newspaper Le Figaro got some excerpts of the report. These excerpts describe that approximately 23 ex-servicemen have been identified within terrorist organisations or have been involved in the planning of terrorist attacks. The report states that some of the ex-servicemen “became radicalised after they joined the French army, while others started becoming radicalised after they left the army… however, some were planning to go and join jihadist groups before being recruited by the French armed forces.”

More than a third of these ex-servicemen had converted to Islam.

According to the report, the French military presents a strategic recruitment pool for terrorist organizations given the training and combat experience of French servicemen.

Read more: sofrep