ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraq's National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji said on Tuesday that 12,000 Iraqi nationals have been returned from the al-Hol camp so far, while around 3,000 Iraqi "terrorists" were brought back from northern Syrian prisons.

Araji said in a speech on the International Day for “the Prevention of Violent Extremism as and when Conducive to Terrorism” that Iraq has so far returned 3,000 Iraqi "terrorists" from northern Syria prisons as well as 12,000 nationals from the al-Hol camp.

"We still have about 16,000 Iraqi citizens” to return from the camp, Araji said. 

Located in the Hasakah province in northern Syria, Al-Hol is one of the largest camps, hosting approximately 40,000 displaced people from nationalities, including families of Iraqi, Syrian, and foreign ISIS militants.

Araji thanked the United Nations organizations for helping Iraq, while calling for the evacuation of the al-Hol camp.

“Syrians and foreigners who belong to 60 foreign countries, and their nationals must be removed from this camp in preparation for closing it so that terrorism does not return again.”

Araji's comments come at a time when Kurdish authorities have said they would shut down camps in northeastern Syria this year. 

Sheikhmos Ahmed, co-chair of the administration’s Office of Displaced Persons and Refugee Affairs, told AFP that officials are "coordinating with the United Nations to shut down the camps."

A meeting on the plan is expected in the coming days, he said.

Former military adviser retired Maj. Gen. Safaa al-Assam had previously described al-Hol camp to The New Region as a “corrupt hotbed rife with dangerous sectarian, Wahhabi, and Salafi ideologies.”

“The camp contains two generations: the first, aged 8 to 10 years at the start of the crisis, is now over 20 years old. The second generation includes infants or those unborn at the time, who are now around 12 years old,” Assam said. "These generations are steeped in ISIS ideologies.”

He noted that foreign journalists visiting the camp have observed children being trained to kill using cats and dogs as practice, describing the environment as a "breeding ground for future killers."