Kosovo arrests 15 Islamists, including imams, for recruiting jihadists for Syria and Iraq

(Reuters) Police in Kosovo arrested 15 people on Wednesday, including a number of imams, in the second major operation in weeks to stem the flow of young ethnic Albanians joining Islamist fighters in Iraq and Syria, a police source said.

Local media reported that an influential imam of the Grand Mosque in the capital, Pristina, was among those arrested, as was the leader of an Islamic-rooted political party.

Most of Kosovo's 1.8 million people are ethnic Albanian Muslims and lead largely secular lives.

A police source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters: "We have arrested 15 people from all over the country. The charges include terrorism, threatening the constitutional order, incitement and religious hate speech."