Islamic State trains 400 fighters to attack Europe in wave of bloodshed
Three men who are suspected of taking part in the attacks at Belgium’s Zaventem Airport were seen in a surveilance video screenshot. The Islamic State group has trained at least 400 fighters to target Europe in deadly waves of attacks, deploying interlocking terror cells like the ones that struck Brussels and Paris with orders to choose the time, place and method for maximum carnage, according to a report. (Belgian Federal Police via AP)
PARIS » The Islamic State group has trained at least 400 fighters to target Europe in deadly waves of attacks, deploying interlocking terror cells like the ones that struck Brussels and Paris with orders to choose the time, place and method for maximum carnage, officials have told The Associated Press.
The network of agile and semiautonomous cells shows the reach of the extremist group in Europe even as it loses ground in Syria and Iraq. The officials, including European and Iraqi intelligence officials and a French lawmaker who follows the jihadi networks, described camps in Syria, Iraq and possibly the former Soviet bloc where attackers are trained to attack the West. Before being killed in a police raid, the ringleader of the Nov. 13 Paris attacks claimed he had entered Europe in a multinational group of 90 fighters, who scattered “more or less everywhere.”
But the biggest break yet in the Paris attacks investigation — the arrest on Friday of fugitive Salah Abdeslam— did not thwart the multipronged attack just four days later on the Belgian capital’s airport and metro that left 31 people dead and an estimated 270 wounded. Three suicide bombers also died.
Just as in Paris, Belgian authorities were searching for at least one fugitive in Tuesday’s attacks — this time for a man wearing a white jacket who was seen on airport security footage with the two suicide attackers. The fear is that the man, whose identity Belgian officials say is not known, will find Abdeslam’s path instructive.
After fleeing Paris immediately after the November attacks, Abdeslam forged a new network back in his childhood neighborhood of Molenbeek, long known as a haven for jihadis, and renewed plotting, according to Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders.
“Not only did he drop out of sight, but he did so to organize another attack, with accomplices everywhere. With suicide belts. Two attacks organized just like in Paris. And his arrest, since they knew he was going to talk, it was a response: ‘So what if he was arrested? We’ll show you that it doesn’t change a thing,’” said French Senator Nathalie Goulet, co-head of a commission tracking jihadi networks.
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Estimates range from 400 to 600 Islamic State fighters trained specifically for external attacks, according to the officials, including Goulet. Some 5,000 Europeans have gone to Syria.
“The reality is that if we knew exactly how many there were, it wouldn’t be happening,” she said.
Two of the suicide bombers in Tuesday’s attacks, brothers Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui, had no known extremist links until an apartment one of them rented was traced to Abdeslam last week, according to Belgian state broadcaster RTBF. Similarly, an Algerian killed inside that apartment on March 15 had nothing but a petty theft record in Sweden — but he’d signed up as an Islamic State suicide bomber for the group in 2014 and returned to Europe as part of the Nov. 13 plot.
In claiming responsibility, the Islamic State group described a “secret cell of soldiers” dispatched to Brussels for the purpose. The shadowy cells were confirmed by Europol — the EU police agency which said in a late January report that intelligence officials believed the group had “developed an external action command trained for special forces-style attacks.”
French speakers with links to North Africa, France and Belgium appear to be leading the units and are responsible for developing attack strategies in Europe, said a European security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about briefing material. He is also familiar with interrogations of former fighters who have returned to Europe. Some were jailed after leaving IS while others were kicked out of the terror group. The fighters include Muslims and Muslim converts from all across Europe.
Fighters in the units are trained in battleground strategies, explosives, surveillance techniques and counter surveillance, the security official said.
“The difference is that in 2014, some of these IS fighters were only being given a couple weeks of training,” he said. “Now the strategy has changed. Special units have been set up. The training is longer. And the objective appears to no longer be killing as many people as possible but rather to have as many terror operations as possible, so the enemy is forced to spend more money or more in manpower. It’s more about the rhythm of terror operations now.”
Similar methods had been developed by al-Qaida but IS has taken it to a new level, he said. Another difference with these “external operation” units is that fighters are being trained to be their own operators — not necessarily to be beholden to specific orders from the IS stronghold in Raqqa, Syria, or elsewhere.
In the case of Tuesday’s attacks, Abdeslam’s arrest may have been a trigger for a plot that was already far along.
“This was not put together as a response to the arrest. However the timing of what has happened over the last few days has maybe hurried up the planning and execution,” said Magnus Ranstorp, a Swedish security analyst. “I see the link to the environments either in France or in Belgium. Whether they’re logistically linked … they’re probably part of the same batch of extremists that have come out of Syria.”
Several security officials have said there is growing evidence to suggest the bulk of the training is taking place in Syria, Libya and elsewhere in North Africa.
“To pull off an attack of this sophistication, you need training, planning, materials and a landscape,” said Shiraz Maher, a senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation in London.
Maher has conducted extensive interviews with foreign fighters. The research center, based at Kings College in London, has one of the largest databases of fighters and their networks.
“Even if they worked flat out, the attackers in Brussels would have needed at least four days,” Maher said.
The question for many intelligence and security officials is now turning to just how many more fighters have been trained and are ready for more attacks.
A senior Iraqi intelligence official who was not authorized to speak publicly said people from the cell that carried out the Paris attacks are scattered across Germany, Britain, Italy, Denmark and Sweden. Recently, a new group crossed in from Turkey, the official said.
The latest new name to surface this week, Najim Laachraoui, turned out to be the bombmaker who made the suicide vests used in the Paris attacks, according to French and Belgian officials. Attackers used an explosive known as Triacetone Triperoxide, or TATP, made from common household chemicals. DNA evidence indicates he died on Tuesday in the suicide attack on the airport, two officials briefed on the investigation told AP.
Fifteen kilos of TATP were found in an apartment linked to the Brussels attackers, along with other explosive material.
The unidentified man seen on security footage wearing a white jacket and black hat at the Brussels airport on Tuesday remains at large, a fugitive link in a chain still being forged.
Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed from Baghdad.
62 responses to “Islamic State trains 400 fighters to attack Europe in wave of bloodshed”
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Could be a head fake!! We have to be vigilant–gotta think Trump. However, Clinton could negotiate with the ISIS if they donated to the Clinton Foundation. That’s how Jesse has done it for decades with his Rainbow coalition.
This will boost trump, the security president. Truth is, Europe was far too generous with its immigration policy and let in far too many Muslims who are unable, apparently, to assimilate. They may be stuck now. Clearly the terrorists are getting lots of help from “peaceful” Muslim immigrant communities. Many know who the terrorists are and where they are. Not everyone is capable of democracy, private property, modernism, tolerance, pluralism, etc.
I actually heard that one of these terrorists was deported from Turkey for terrorist threats but yet these countries don’t communicate. Anyone leaving Europe to go to Syria should maybe be forced to stay in Syria.
Another Trump supporter is born!!
Why are these a__holes being allowed to come back into their home countries from these ISIS strongholds? Their passports should indicate where they are from, where they went and where they are coming back from. Arrest tehm as they come back!
They use forged/fake passports for one thing.
Gotta identify them. Too many to count.
They should be on a watch list. It is so hard for good citizens to travel from one country to another, but get these guys have no problem. I don’t get it.
The grave mistake was to welcome their parents into the West.
Time for the gays to organize a global fighting force against ISIS, it’s in their best interest.
The “gays” are waiting for you Covert-Closet-Queens to lead the way… IMUA! You can now disguise yourself with those clothes you bought for your pretend girlfriend/wife last Valentine’s Day.
I’ll bet you’re Wicked wielding those Stiletto-Healed Valentino Garavani High-Heels…
Think about it, if ISIS wins, they won’t kill everyone, but the will kill all homosexuals. This is a perfect opportunity for them to put their convictions into action.
You are as sick as they are!!!!!!
yies!
Is “yies” a Mandan term?
I take it you were so upset you couldn’t ven type.
Mamma Mia! ..and, they are allegedly working on their Graduate Degrees…
“ven” (..yah, ven Lars en eye porked duh Volvo und worked tu da fjords..)
(OY VEY, MARIA)
Farkward sounds like a closeted gay.
Retire too.
I won’t tell your friends (’cause they’re probably doing the same..)
“Retire too.” (?) Fifth, there are Adult Educational programs available for those who cannot spell. You old souls need to walk more, and farther…
Not gay, but tired of their community demanding the respect of others without earning it.
What is that suppose to mean? What a ridiculous comment!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3438483/The-former-ISIS-sex-slaves-waging-war-abusers-Hundreds-Yazidi-women-form-female-battalion-called-Sun-Ladies-launch-massive-assault-Mosul.html
he may be thinking along the lines of the sun ladies fighting force.
If there are communities of known jihadists, kill them!
Europeans know who the terrorists are but are tied up by civil rights laws and lack of capital punishment. Need to change tactics and fight them in the same spirit as theirs. Rather than shoot or bomb them back try kidnapping them quietly, torturing them with pork broth, make them dig a deep hole, and bury them head first alive screaming their dedication to Allah. Out of sight and out of mind. You can hire Italian Mafia types as they specialize in this sort of thing. Don’t need to feel ashamed of this kind of retaliation. Just call it ethnic cleansing. The Arabs practice it all the time. Ask Saudi Arabia.
We can’t just bomb whole communities where we suspect terrorists reside, like we do in Syria or Iraq. The collateral damage would include white, Christian people — you know, people whose lives actually matter.
“justmyview371” didn’t say “bomb” the “whole communities”, per se. I believe the reference was to “kill” “jihadists”. Which, frankly, I don’t have a problem with.
But, more important–hunt down and execute the “CLERICS” who are the driving force behind the madness of these jihadists. As long as these particular CLERICS continue to be able to brain-wash innocent children and ignorant persons–this insanity will never end (Garbage-in, Garbage-out!). I don’t believe that honest and spiritual Islamists want this craziness to continue; I’m certain of that…
Absolutely right on. Kidnap the clerics then call me up. I can help. I have a medical degree. No joke.
that isis list of names and contacts will need to be closely scrutinized.
“Estimates range from 400 to 600 Islamic State fighters trained specifically for external attacks, according to the officials, including Goulet. Some 5,000 Europeans have gone to Syria.”
VERY CONFUSING..; if they can “estimate” and/or count them–given a “margin-of-error” of, say, of even 80%–why can’t these agencies find them and arrest them? Too ILLOGICAL!
The problem is there are hundreds of thousands Jihad sympathizers in Europe already. Islam and democracy don’t go together.
And the Obama Administration wants to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees into America? YIKES!!!! We’ll be plagued with ISIS like Europe!!!
hiLIARy & chelsea clinton campaigning FREE OBAMACARE to ALL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS…hey that is a plus for them fighters if they get injured!
a good test is to make to force them to eat pork. if they do it easily then they are not a Muslim extremist. if they absolutely refuse to do it, they should be deported and not allowed back in.
Try using pork gravy as a torture tool. Use a turkey baster and pump it up their nostrils.
Yes, adobo and dinaguan,pork blood, followed by a shave. Then a colonoscopy by LGBT doctor.
Word is the smell test will give them away.
We can’t fight them in Europe like we do in Syria or Iraq. Western society accepts unlimited number of children and other innocent casualties as “collateral damage” when it happens in non-white, non-Christian communities. But we would never stand for that kind of loss of innocent life in a western country, and the terrorists probably know that.
These jihadists must be laughing at the so called civilized western countries. We believe so much in being politically correct that we prefer being bombed and slaughtered than doing whatever it takes to win the war.
I think all western countries have done a good bit of killing civilians too. The fight between the west and the middle east has gone on for a millennia, there is no end in sight. What would you suggest? Going back to WWII days and mass carpet bombing or worse?
i am somewhat confused about this Islamic terrorist bombing. According to the news reports I have read, there were three Islamic terrorist pictured in the security camera videos at the
airport. Once there and pictured together, they split up and went to areas where they seemed to be the most possible victims. There were two explosions at the terminal and
both Islamic terrorist were supposedly killed in the blasts. There was a third blast on the subway train but no information as to who or how that explosion was detonated.
The news reports say that authorities are searching for the third suspect seen in the security camera videos who is believed to be the bomb maker and a person authorities had been
searching since the Paris bombings and attack. So are authorities seeking 2 suspects or were there three Islamic terrorists killed in the bombings, the third being the one who set off
the bomb on the subway train??
Can anyone clear this up??
This is how it works : who’s on first Abbott and Costello // http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xtx3g_whos-on-first_school
ISIS?
Who is behind it? Who supplies it? Who funds it? Who sustains it?
Brandon Turbeville, writing at Activist Post (“Congress Votes To Fight ISIS By Funding ISIS To Fight Assad”, 9/19/2014), states:
“Obama’s plan [is] to ‘detect and degrade’ ISIS…the reality is that the plan is nothing more than a plan to…destroy the Syrian government to benefit of ISIS and other fundamentalist groups that the United States has created, funded, trained, and directed since the very beginning of the Syrian crisis.”
Cartalucci, in an article titled, “In Syria, There No Moderates” (9/2013), writes:
“…there were never, nor are there any ‘moderates’ operating in Syria. The West has intentionally armed and funded Al Qaeda and other sectarian extremists since as early as 2007 in preparation for an engineered sectarian bloodbath serving US-Saudi-Israeli interests. This latest bid to portray the terrorists operating along and within Syria’s borders as ‘divided’ along extremists/moderate lines is a ploy to justify the continued flow of Western cash and arms into Syria to perpetuate the conflict, as well as create conditions along Syria’s borders with which Western partners, Israel, Jordan, and Turkey, can justify direct military intervention [in Syria].”
These young middle east Moslems had the hate against us before ISIS already. Isis only gives them a vent .Their parents and grandparents were allowed into Europe to run away from their miserable home countries and they were glad to have even a little money now. But the offspring feels entitled to more without being willing to earn it through hard effort. Same feeling can be found in some minorities in the US inner cities. All this is caused by immigration of people into the West who want not or can not integrate.
Yes and its time to get rid of the family and friends that knew but acting as if they didnt.
Simple solution to the problem is to use one of these terrorist’s cellphone and call a secret meeting in an isolated warehouse. Shoot a couple of missiles and poof … 400 terrorists disappear. End of story.
I think you should travel there and initiate this “simple solution” of yours. Send a Postcard when you’ve accomplished your goal…
You guys are in rare form today. Seriously, what horrible security. They just wheel in big bags of explosives wearing one black glove.
Muslim terrorists could do that quite easily here in the USA because it would be racial profiling if police were to stop and question them. Liberals won’t allow it. Boom!
the nuanced democrat strategy to defeat terrorism as articulated by marie harf: “We can work with countries around the world to help improve their governance. We can help build their economies so they can have job opportunities for these people.”
problem is most of these terrorists are well educated, well employed and are interested in establishing a government based on sharia law.
Vote for Trump…he “get’s it!”
How many did the “Person Of The Year” Germany’s Angela Merkle take in? I believe it was around million?? This really astounds me ,knowing that after repeated warnings about terror cells blending in with the Syrian Migration.They still continued to accept these refugees. Not just Germany, but mostly all of the EU nations and their citizens are now at risk !! After ignoring the advice of a few media outlets along with US and European intel??What happens next? They chose “Compassion” rather than security. And said ” we need to show compassion to these refugees,who are fleeing their embattled country”….There went the Vetting process! Ha!ha!ha!Now we hear more are coming in!! Really?
Yep! You could say Donald Trump was right about this! About providing Security for our US citizens. FIRST and foremost!! After the San Bernardino shootings,Donald also said “Our leaders havn’t a Clue how to vet the 10,000 Syrian refugees coming into the US, So we need to temporarily stop these Syrian Muslim from coming into the US, until we know more about them! Indeed!
But for the European Nations??it was just a matter …..Time. IMUA!
In 2015 2 million foreigners came to Germany, more than half middle east Muslims. And they multiply like lemmings. Within our lifetimes Germany will only be a geographic name.
..or, possibly renamed “MECCA”…
Yes, the terrorism problem is real and probably will get worse. But what caused it?
Could be when the first city hung a “Keep Out” sign on its mud brick walls around 8,000 years ago.
Like me or not–that was “a very goon one”! Someone with a brain…
If so hope they catch them and behead them.
Andrew Zimmern could be interested in purchasing the Heads(?)..
Hillary’s Stanford speech is the same cliche laced rhetoric. A lot of words that lack substance. She does not need a TelePrompTer. Manufactured you might say. Listen folks, she has been around a long time, some say too long. She had her chance as First Lady, Senator, and got a whole lot of people killed, governments overturned and as a result – ISIS.
Whoever you elect please anyone but her.
I keep telling you “”Kermit” The Frog”” is the best candidate for President of THE USA!!