A court in Azerbaijan has sentenced 10 people to jail terms of between four to 15 years for joining the Islamic State extremist group.

A spokesman for the Baku court said they were among 26 people arrested in 2014.

The minimum sentence was for a minor, the spokesman added.

In September 2014, the Security Ministry said it had arrested 26 people for setting up "illegal armed groups and supplying them with weapons" in Pakistan, Syria, and Iraq, with some of them fighting alongside IS militants.

Some of the 26 men first joined Taliban-affiliated groups in Pakistan and then moved to Syria, while others arrived in Syria via Turkey, the ministry said.

Based on reporting by AFP, AP, and Interfax