(VOVworld) - Germany’s federal criminal police said Thursday that they are in possession of files containing personal data on members of the extremist group IS and believe them to be authentic.

The documents allegedly contain details of 16 British fighters, four from the US and six from Canada, as well as recruits from France and Germany. (Photo: Screen grab)

Thursday’s announcement comes after Britain’s Sky News reported it had obtained 22,000 IS files on the border of Turkey and Syria, detailing IS fighters’ real names, telephone numbers, and the names of those who sponsored and recruited them.

The same day, the Tunisian Interior Ministry said its security forces have dismantled a network recruiting young militants for combat in Syria. The 4-member network has been operating in Kairouan city, 184 km from the capital city of Tunis.

Iraqi army vehicles and a helicopter deploy in the front line in al-Anbar desert, 50 kms north east of Haditha, where Iraqi forces are fighting the IS, on March 9, 2016. (Photo: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFPFile)

Also on Thursday Iraqi forces retook a town from IS in Anbar province and evacuated 10,000 civilians to a safer place.