MAASTRICHT - The 19-year-old Maastricht girl S.P., to whom the municipality refused to issue a passport in mid-February because she was about to leave for Syria, has gone on jihad after all.

The Limburg teen allegedly left by car with only her identity card. The municipality refused to issue her a new passport because the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security had information that the convert wanted to go to the war zone to join a jihad group.

Shortly after the refusal, she left anyway, sources said, She allegedly joined an al-Qaeda-linked militant group. Insiders say the girl's mother made it known to the municipality that her daughter was in Syria.

Clarification

Françoise Landerloo, P.'s Maastricht lawyer, only wanted to say yesterday that she had requested written clarification from the NCTV about the passport denial. "In it I asked for an explanation about the information they apparently had about client's intention to go to Syria. I am now waiting for an answer. I don't want to say more about this at the moment."

Thirteen Dutch youths have been denied passports in recent months because intelligence and security services had indications that they were about to travel to jihad areas. The NCTV previously called the passport measure efficient and effective, but the departure of the Limburg native illustrates that tenacious Muslim extremists will not let this stop them.

Identity cards-in many cases also suitable as travel documents-cannot legally be refused "simply because people need to be able to identify themselves," an NCTV spokesman said.