UN: IS, Al Qaeda drawing fighters from half the world's countries

The United Nations has said that more than half of the countries in the world are generating fighters for Islamist groups such as, Al Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS).

A report prepared by the UN Security Council said that more than 25,000 fighters involved in jihadi conflicts had travelled from more than 100 member states, reports The Guardian.

While noting that the number of fighters may have gone up by more than 70 percent in the last nine months, the UN warned that they posed an "immediate and long-term" threat.

The report noted that social networks in conflict zones and western cities played a key role in radicalisation, adding that those who ate together and bonded together, could bomb together.

It is the first U.N. document that takes a global view of the problem of "foreign terrorist fighters" and includes those in Afghanistan, Africa, as well as Syria and Iraq.

The report came as the Security Council is scheduled to meet on Friday to discuss the problem of foreign terrorist fighters and potential measures to combat the threat.