Austria, France, and Italy have all issued warnings of potential terrorist threats to Europe by the Islamic State (IS) following the group’s Moscow concert hall attack that killed 139 people.
The French government increased the country’s security alert to its highest level, which means more soldiers will be put on standby and ready to patrol sensitive sites, including schools. According to Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, France has thwarted two attack attempts by IS since the start of the year, including a foiled attack on the city of Strasbourg.
While Austria will retain its second-highest security alert level, officials have said there will be an increased police presence during the upcoming Easter holidays in the capital, Vienna, especially in places where large crowds are set to gather. The branch of the IS, which claimed responsibility for the Moscow attack, the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), was the same group that planned an attack on the St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna in December.
Police will also feature more heavily at popular tourist spots and at “sensitive sites” in Italy during the Easter holiday, including places such as airports, train stations, and cultural and religious sites. “During the Easter holidays you will need to be very careful. We will always do the utmost to ensure the safety of citizens and tourists,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said.
Terrorism expert Peter Neumann told German national public radio on Monday that Germany and Western Europe were facing an increased threat of Islamist terrorism since the Hamas terror attacks on Israel in October. He noted that, whereas in the past, the terrorists had acted individually, ISKP works in a more organised, professional way, being able to organise its networks.
As we previously reported, the ISKP is a UN-designated terrorist organisation and analysts consider it the most dangerous of the Islamic State groups. It has a wide presence in Afghanistan, as well as in Pakistan and other areas of Central Asia. The group’s name (Khorasan) derives from an old term for the region that included parts of Iran, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan. General Michael Kurilla, the commander of U.S. Central Command, told Congress last March that ISKP was quickly developing the ability to conduct “external operations” in Europe and Asia. Asfandyar Mir, a senior expert at the United States Institute of Peace says the group has sought to distinguish itself among jihadi fighters by adopting a radical Islamic worldview more militant and uncompromising than its rivals, including al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Recently foiled terror attacks in Europe that can be attributed to ISKP were a planned attack on the Swedish parliament, against Christmas markets in Germany, and against the cathedrals of Cologne and Vienna. Conservative parties all around Europe have pointed at the lax immigration policies of the EU as the cause of increased terrorist activity in Europe. Sweden Democrat MEP Charlie Weimers recently said: “This is a result of Europe admitting hundreds of thousands of people from the third world, where Islamist and almost mediaeval values prevail.”
