BELGIUM/FILE: Hardline Islamist group ISIL is probably training and directing foreign fighters to carry out attacks in Europe and elsewhere, the European Union's counter-terrorism coordinator says

Record ID: 352026

  • Title: BELGIUM/FILE: Hardline Islamist group ISIL is probably training and directing foreign fighters to carry out attacks in Europe and elsewhere, the European Union's counter-terrorism coordinator says
  • Date: 19th June 2014
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (JUNE 19, 2014) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF EUROPEAN COUNCIL BUILDING COMPUTER MONITOR SHOWING EU LOGO / EU COUNTER-TERRORISM COORDINATOR GILLES DE KERCHOVE SITTING AT DESK, READING DOCUMENT KERCHOVE SITTING AT DESK, READING DOCUMENT DOCUMENT ON COUNTER TERRORISM POSTER INSIDE OFFICE, READING (English): "'Is the EU a credible actor in the fight against terrori
  • Embargoed: 4th July 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA1ILKDJ8GTBF7FWIPQJ5B4AJJZ
  • Story Text: The hardline Islamist group that has seized parts of Syria and Iraq is probably training and directing foreign fighters to carry out attacks in Europe and elsewhere, the European Union's counter-terrorism coordinator said on Thursday (June 19).
    Gilles de Kerchove also said it was likely that there would be more attacks in Europe like the shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels last month that killed four people.
    Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old Frenchman believed to have returned recently from fighting with Islamist militant rebels in Syria, was arrested in May for the Jewish Museum killings.
    At the time of his arrest, Nemmouche had a Kalashnikov wrapped in a flag with the inscriptions of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an al Qaeda offshoot involved in Syria's civil war and which also spearheaded last week's offensive across north and western Iraq.
    Investigations would show whether the Brussels shooting was part of a planned strategy by ISIL, which is also known by the acronym ISIS, de Kerchove said in an interview with Reuters.

    "I am worried and I think it is likely. The question is whether Nemmouche - the person suspected to be behind the Brussels terrorist attack - was directed to do that or he was just inspired, he did it by himself. I think it is very likely that the ISIS what the Arabs call DAIISH, the most extremist group there alongside Jabhat al-Nusra, maybe is preparing, training, directing some of the foreign fighters to mount attacks in Europe or outside Europe," de Kerchove said.
    The Brussels attack has raised alarm about the risk of Europeans going to fight in Syria and staging attacks in Europe when they return.
    De Kerchove said he estimated that more than 2,000 Europeans had gone to fight in Syria.

    "Unlike Jabhat al-Nusra, which has more a local or regional objective to have a local caliphate, ISIS is sharing with al Qaeda the idea of the global caliphate so it makes sense that they send fighters back and mount an attack outside the region," de Kerchove said.
    Advances made by ISIL fighters in Iraq may give an extra incentive for would-be jihadists to go there, according to de Kerchove.

    "It may, in a sense, give additional incentive for would-be jihadists to go there because, in a way, for those who are attracted by the idea of the caliphate, or at least the region or local caliphate, it just confirmed that they are now holding swathes, large swathes of territory, so it may be exciting to join because that shows successes," he said.
    Earlier this month, nine European countries endorsed plans to step up intelligence-sharing and take down radical websites to try to stop European citizens going to fight in Syria and bringing violence back home with them.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register