Excerpt:
Prime minister Mark Rutte made controversial comments about jihadis being better dead than back in the Netherlands in the context of the election campaign and as prime minister, he said after Friday's cabinet meeting.
Rutte said during a television debate with other party leaders on Thursday night he agreed it would be better if Dutch jihadis who travel to Syria died there rather than return to the Netherlands.
'I think the same, whatever role I am in,' the prime minister said on Friday afternoon. 'You cannot differentiate.'