BELGRADE - Kosovo's Deputy Minister of Interior Sasa Rasic has said that the situation with Kosovo citizens going off to fight for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria was very dangerous.

"The situation is critical, and the action we recently took shows that we are dealing with it seriously. A large number of people involved in recruitment, going off to fight in Syria and Iraq and indoctrination related to Islamic extremism were arrested," he told Tanjug at the 4th Belgrade Security Forum.

"The situation is serious and a large number of people, around 100, are still under investigation," he explained.

At the same time, the organisations that funded terrorism have been shut down or are under investigation, he stated.

There is no accurate information about hte number of people from Kosovo currently among the ranks of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, but estimates put that figure at around 200, and around 15 have died there, he pointed out.

The rise of Islamic radicalisation and willingness to join a jihad is present in Kosovo, but also throughout the region and in Europe, and it is the result of events from the past 15 years, he said.

Certain elements used the instability that followed NATO's bombing campaign against Serbia, but there are also some social and economic factors that have played a roll, he remarked.

Although Kosovo is a secular country according to its Constitution, it still poses fertile ground for such activities, since most of the population is Islamic, Rasic said.

Most people in Kosovo are ethnic Albanians, who are predomnantly Muslims.

The overall security situation in Kosovo is much better than before, he believes.

"It is also indicated by the number of ethnically motivated incidents, which are dropping in frequancy and are mostly no longer serious crimes. The talks between Belgrade and Pristina have helped, as well as some of the agreements signed in Brussels," he noted.

There are efforts to make the security situation in Kosovo even better, he said.