About 400 Islamic State Fighters Have Been Trained To Attack Europe
About 400 fighters have been trained by the Islamic State group to attack Europe in "deadly waves of attacks". They are sending "interlocking terror cells" just as those that attacked Brussels and Paris, with guidelines to opt for their own "time, place and method for maximum carnage," said officials to The Associated Press.
It's a large network of attackers who have spread all over Europe, losing ground in Syria and Iraq. European and Iraqi intelligence officials and a French lawmaker explained the process behind its formation and growth from Syria, Iraq and the former Soviet bloc, in which attackers get the training to assault the West.
Even though the fugitive Salah Abdeslam, ringleader of the Paris attack was arrested, it did not stop the attack in Brussels airport and metro, leaving 31 dead and 270 injured. Even three suicide bombers were killed.
After escaping Paris after the November attacks, Abdeslam just forged a novel network in his hometown of Molenbeek, a safe haven for jihadis, 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.
There are estimates that link 400 to 600 Islamic State fighters who have been trained for external attacks, say the officials, including Goulet. About 5,000 Europeans have left for Syria.
All the extremists are given training 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."
