Four Dutch nationals, who were arrested in Kenya earlier this week on suspicion of joining the jihadist group Al Shabaab, have returned to the Netherlands, where they are likely to be prosecuted. Dutch intelligence services want to investigate whether or not these men were Jihadists.

The four men, three who were born in Morocco and the fourth in Somalia, were stopped by police on Monday while on their way to Kiunga on the border between Kenya and Somalia.

Al Shabaab, which is often linked to Al Qaeda, fights the provisional government in Somalia. It is accused of plotting terrorist acts in Somalia and neighbouring countries, including Kenya. It is not very common for Dutch nationals to travel to terrorist hot spots in the world to join terrorist groups. In 2002, two Dutch men were found killed in Kashmir while a year later a 16-year old boy was arrested while on his way to Chechnya.

The group arrested in Kenya this week included one man who was arrested in 2005 when he was planning to travel to Azerbeijan.

Boost
It's believed that Al Shabaab's confidence and direction has been boosted by an influx of foreign fighters of late. Jort Hemmer from the Netherlands Institute for Foreign Relations Clingendael in The Hague says  there may be hundreds of foreigners fighting alongside the militant group. This is, however, the first time that Dutch nationals are suspected of wanting to join.

"Al-Shabaab is an organization driven by ideology and that has an attraction for young people all over the world who share that ideology", Mr Hemmer says. "So it's fair to say that the influence of Al-Shabaab stretches outside Somali borders."

Government
Al-Shabaab insurgents have been battling the largely powerless transition government in Mogadishu who are worried the country may fall into the hands of the jihadist fighters.
 
Countries like Kenya are worried too that the Somali insurgents  could stage attacks on their soil which would badly hurt Kenya's already shaky tourist industy and foreign investors.
 
They're keen to avoid any battle with their neighbour but Jort Hemmer says their concern is real.
 
"There have been a number of incidents on the Somali Kenyan border over the last months and there have been reports that Al-Shabaab have been recruiting fighters in North Eastern Kenya as well", he says.

Holy war
The Dutch men who claim were on a tourist trip have yet to be proved connected to this growing threat but whatever the outcome, many are predicting that Somalia is the next battleground for a holy war.

Listen to a Newsline interview with Jort Hemmer: