Reuters reports that a number of girls from Tunisia have gotten pregnant from traveling to Syria and taking part in “sexual jihad,” according to Lotfi Bin Jeddo, Tunisia’s Interior Minister.

“The girls “are (sexually) swapped between 20, 30, and 100 rebels and they come back bearing the fruit of sexual contacts in the name of sexual jihad and we are silent doing nothing and standing idle,” Bin Jeddo is credited as saying by Al Arabiya. The media outlet claims he said this during an address to the National Constituent Assembly.

“After the sexual liaisons they have there in the name of ‘jihad al-nikah’ – (sexual holy war, in Arabic) – they come home pregnant,” he continued.

He did not elaborate on how many Tunisian women had returned to the country pregnant with the children of jihadist fighters.

Jihad al-nikah, permitting extramarital sexual relations with multiple partners, is considered by some hardline Sunni Muslim Salafists as a legitimate form of holy war.

Jeddo also said his ministry had taken a number of steps to stem the flow of Tunisians travelling to Syria.

Tunisia’s former Mufti (the country’s highest religious official) warned earlier this year that 13 Tunisian girls “were fooled” into travelling to Syria to offer sexual services for the rebels. He described the practice as a form of “prostitution.”

“For Jihad in Syria, they are now pushing girls to go there. 13 young girls have been sent for sexual jihad. What is this? This is called prostitution. It is moral educational corruption,” Battikh said.