Dutch students who travel to Syria to join rebel forces will lose their student financing, education minister Jet Bussemaker said in answer to MPs’ questions.

Earlier, the Dutch counter-terrorism unit NCTV said that some Dutch fighters were in receipt of student loans.

Bussemaker did not go into details about individual cases but said the financing will be stopped if it transpires students have joined groups allied to Al-Qaeda.

This has already happened in some cases, the minister said.