Islamic State is actively focusing its attention on conducting large-scale attacks in Europe similar to those last year in Paris, the head of the EU’s law enforcement agency has said.
Rob Wainwright, the head of Europol, the Hague-based organisation that coordinates EU policing efforts over terrorism and organised crime, said Isis had “developed a new combat-style capability to carry out a campaign of large-scale terrorist attacks on a global stage, with a particular focus in Europe”.
His comments, at a meeting of interior ministers in Amsterdam, came as France’s interior minister said Islamist terrorists had planned to attack another concert in Paris and carry out a mass killing in the streets of the capital.
Bernard Cazeneuve was defending the government’s decision to maintain a state of emergency imposed after the shootings and bombings across Paris on 13 November, which left 130 people dead, including 89 at the Bataclan concert hall. Isis claimed responsibility.
Cazeneuve said that since last spring the country’s intelligence services had foiled 11 terrorist attacks, some of which had been ordered by the Islamic State attackers behind the Paris atrocities.
Wainwright, a Briton who previously had a senior role at the Serious Organised Crime Agency, was unveiling a Europol report on the changes to operations by militant Islamist groups.
He said: “So-called Islamic State has a willingness and a capability to carry out further attacks in Europe, and of course all national authorities are working to prevent that from happening.”
The Europol report says Islamic State is preparing more mass gun and bomb attacks of the sort seen in Paris and, in 2008, in Mumbai, “to be executed in member states of the EU, and in France in particular”.
It added: “The attacks will be primarily directed at soft targets, because of the impact it generates. Both the November Paris attacks and the October 2015bombing of a Russian airliner suggest a shift in IS strategy towards going global.”
On Monday the Council of Europe criticised France’s attempt to extend the state of emergency, in a letter from the watchdog’s secretary-general to the French president, François Hollande.
Thorbjorn Jagland warned of the risks that could result from the renewal, such as “the circumstances in which administrative searches or house arrests may be carried out”. He also warned against restrictions on freedom of movement and problems that might arise from the use of firearms by French security forces.
Speaking to France 5 television, Cazeneuve said the state of emergency was “necessary … but should remain temporary”. It would remain “as long as there is an imminent danger”.
“The state of emergency is a tool, among others ... and it’s not because we are extending it that it will be extended forever. Let me remind you that not all the terrorists who carried out the 13 November attacks were caught,” he said.
Four suspects believed to have been involved in the November attacks or to have aided the attackers are still being hunted by police.
Meanwhile, Islamic State has released a video showing the jihadis believed to have carried out the Paris attacks. In the film, the group threatens other “coalition” countries, including Britain.
The video was uploaded to a recognised Isis channel and purports to show some of the Paris attackers wearing camouflage fatigues while training in an unknown desert location.
The men, speaking in French and Arabic, addressed their message to “all the countries taking part in the coalition” that has been carrying out airstrikes against the group in Syria and Iraq since September 2014.
A picture of the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, was shown alongside the words “whoever stands in the ranks of kuffar (unbelievers) will be a target for our swords”. The video described the nine Paris attackers as “lions” who “brought France to its knees”.
Hollande, on an official visit to India, said the country would not be intimidated. “Nothing will deter us, no threat will make France waver in the fight against terrorism,” Hollande told reporters in Delhi.
Terrorists struck France in a series of attacks last year, which began with shootings at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in January. The government introduced a state of emergency after the November attacks, but the move has been criticised by civil liberties groups.
It is due to expire on 26 February, but last week the Elysée Palace announced it would seek to extend it for another three months.
Cazeneuve and the French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, have often spoken of the number of planned attacks foiled by the intelligence services, but their warnings have failed to dampen concern over the state of emergency powers.
(The Guardian)
