Australians still joining militants overseas: reports

Reports suggest more than 90 Australians have been killed fighting with radical Islamist groups but there's been a rise in suspects going overseas this year.

Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton Source: AAP

The number of Australians fleeing overseas to join jihadists has risen in the past 12 months despite the crippling blows dealt to groups like Islamic State.

The Australian Federal Police has issued 27 arrest warrants for some of these suspects while more than 90 Australians have been killed fighting for radical Islamic groups overseas, the Herald Sun reports.

In the past six years, about 230 Australians have gone to Syria or Iraq to fight in the conflict, an ASIO spokesman told the paper, while about 40 of them have returned.

"Unfortunately, Australia has seen a number of terror incidents this year and also a number of very near misses, so we are not immune to the scourge of terrorism," Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton told the Herald Sun.

"This government will continue to keep Australians safe and fight for laws like the recent encryption legislation to do so. If people are returning from conflicts overseas they do so into the hands of authorities."