Europe – Al-Qaeda, wary of being upstaged by even more ruthless Islamic State fighters, may try to show its relevance by carrying out attacks in Europe, the United States or Israel, the European Union's counter-terrorism coordinator said on the 24 Sep 14. With the world's focus firmly on Islamic State group's advances in Syria and Iraq, the EU's Gilles de Kerchove warned of the risk of competition between Islamic State and al-Qaida, which has renounced its offshoot as too brutal. “It is possible that al-Qaida may want to mount attacks to show that the organization is still relevant, they are still in the game,” De Kerchove told a European Parliament committee. He said some militants had moved from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Syria where they formed part of the al-Qaida-linked Khorasan Group. He added that it appeared they planned to recruit Europeans who had travelled to Syria to fight and persuade them to use their passports to return and mount attacks in Europe, Israel and the United States. While Islamic State was the main target of a U.S.-led air assault in Syria this week, American officials said they also targeted the Khorasan Group, with the aim of disrupting a plot against U.S. or European targets that the Pentagon said was “nearing the execution phase.” De Kerchove estimated that more than 3,000 Europeans were in Syria, had been there or planned to go there to fight, and that there was a real risk some of them could return and bring violence back to Europe. “We have seen that in Brussels with the killing of four persons at the Jewish Museum. It raises their level of tolerance of violence to such a level that there is a risk when they come back that killing is something normal,” he said. Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old Frenchman believed to have returned recently from fighting with Islamist militant rebels in Syria, was arrested in May over the killing of four people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels.
Belgium – On the 20 Sep 14 open sources reported that Belgium had thwarted attacks by jihadists in the country. Belgian authorities had prevented several attacks by jihadist fighters returning home from Syria and by sympathisers with the Islamic State extremist group. The daily L'Echo cited unnamed sources as saying the planned attacks could have been similar to the one on the Jewish Museum in central Brussels in May which left four people dead. The suspect in that case, Frenchman Medhi Nemmouche, spent more than a year fighting with Islamist extremists in Syria and is now being held in Belgium on charges of "murder in a terrorist context". Up to 400 Belgian nationals are estimated to have gone to fight in Syria, with about 90 known to have returned home the paper said. Our starting point is that among them, between one and nine aim to carry out an attack," a source said. "That is a conservative estimate, if you also take into account the people who help them." The newspaper said its sources did not want to give details of the planned attacks nor of the operations to prevent them, for reasons of security and so as not to alarm the public. Several arrests have been made, it added. Belgium like many European countries is increasingly concerned about nationals going to fight in Syria and Iraq for fear they will return home battle hardened and even more radicalised, posing a threat to security. In Jun 14, a court ordered that 46 suspected members of Sharia4Belgium, a radical Islamist group believed to be involved in sending young fighters to Syria, should stand trial on various charges, including involvement in a terrorist organisation.
Norway – Centrally placed sources told the Norwegian television and radio station NRK that militants who probably sympathize with the Islamic State this summer planned to kill a whole family with knives, film it and publish it as a warning…. In Jul 14, Norway was under a terror alert, which included extra staff at all border crossings and the fact that cars, planes and trains were searched more than usual. Also, the Jewish synagogue in Oslo was closed….
The extremists were planning to break into a house, cut the throats of all the residents and post video of the atrocity on the Internet. It was supposed to be a random house. … Sources on the 23 Sep 14 have told the newspaper Dagbladet that four people from the Islamic State were heading for Norway, and that it led to the terror alert. The four landed in Athens in Jul 14, but since then police lost track of the group.
Belgium – On the 20 Sep 14 open sources reported that Belgium had thwarted attacks by jihadists in the country. Belgian authorities had prevented several attacks by jihadist fighters returning home from Syria and by sympathisers with the Islamic State extremist group. The daily L'Echo cited unnamed sources as saying the planned attacks could have been similar to the one on the Jewish Museum in central Brussels in May which left four people dead. The suspect in that case, Frenchman Medhi Nemmouche, spent more than a year fighting with Islamist extremists in Syria and is now being held in Belgium on charges of "murder in a terrorist context". Up to 400 Belgian nationals are estimated to have gone to fight in Syria, with about 90 known to have returned home the paper said. Our starting point is that among them, between one and nine aim to carry out an attack," a source said. "That is a conservative estimate, if you also take into account the people who help them." The newspaper said its sources did not want to give details of the planned attacks nor of the operations to prevent them, for reasons of security and so as not to alarm the public. Several arrests have been made, it added. Belgium like many European countries is increasingly concerned about nationals going to fight in Syria and Iraq for fear they will return home battle hardened and even more radicalised, posing a threat to security. In Jun 14, a court ordered that 46 suspected members of Sharia4Belgium, a radical Islamist group believed to be involved in sending young fighters to Syria, should stand trial on various charges, including involvement in a terrorist organisation.
Norway – Centrally placed sources told the Norwegian television and radio station NRK that militants who probably sympathize with the Islamic State this summer planned to kill a whole family with knives, film it and publish it as a warning…. In Jul 14, Norway was under a terror alert, which included extra staff at all border crossings and the fact that cars, planes and trains were searched more than usual. Also, the Jewish synagogue in Oslo was closed….
The extremists were planning to break into a house, cut the throats of all the residents and post video of the atrocity on the Internet. It was supposed to be a random house. … Sources on the 23 Sep 14 have told the newspaper Dagbladet that four people from the Islamic State were heading for Norway, and that it led to the terror alert. The four landed in Athens in Jul 14, but since then police lost track of the group.
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