Post-9/11, Europeās weak spots make it a jihadist target
By BARRY HATTON
September 10, 2021
In 2004, train bombings in Madrid killed 193 people and injured more than 2,000. A year later London bombings, sometimes referred to as 7/7, featuring coordinated suicide bomb attacks targeting the public transport system that killed 52 people and injured more than 700.
Later, the Islamic State group became the chief menace. It claimed responsibility for a string of notorious attacks, including one in Paris in 2015 that killed 130 people and wounded hundreds of others ā Franceās deadliest violence since World War II. In 2016, nail bombs went off in Brussels, killing 32 people as well as the three perpetrators and injuring more than 300 people. Later the same year, a truck drove into crowds in Nice, France, killing 86 people and injuring 434.
Some critics have blamed that violence on weak links in the continentās defense. Intelligence capabilities differ widely among the European Unionās 27 member countries.
https://apnews.com/article/europe-united-states-western-europe-madrid-terrorism-5756d66287def630882b123bdaf86123
Please see a more complete list at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_terrorism_in_Europe
The list is very extensive and I posted only a few below.
12 May 2018 France Paris, France 2018 Paris knife attack A 21-year-old Franco-Chechen man stabbed one pedestrian to death and injured four others in Paris, France. The attacker was later killed by police.[129] The suspect had been on a counter-terrorism watchlist since 2016. Amaq News Agency posted a video of a hooded figure pledging allegiance to ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Amaq claimed this figure was the attacker.[130] Europol classified the attack as jihadist terrorism.[128]
5 May 2018 Netherlands The Hague, Netherlands
ā
A 31-year-old man from The Hague stabbed and seriously hurt three people near train station Hollands Spoor in the city on Saturday afternoon. The police shot the suspect in the leg before arresting him. Europol classified the attack as jihadist terrorism.[126]
29 November 2019 United Kingdom London, United Kingdom 2019 London Bridge stabbing A 28-year-old man who had previously been convicted of terrorist crimes stabbed people in central London, killing two and wounding three others, before being shot dead by police.[2][137] Europol classified the attack as jihadist terrorism.[2]
2 November 2020 Austria Vienna, Austria 2020 Vienna attack A 20-year-old man shot people at random in six locations in central Vienna, killing four and injuring 22, mainly in and outside restaurants, before being shot dead by police. A video of the man pledging allegiance to the Islamic State was released via Amaq News Agency and Europol classified the attack as jihadist terrorism.[155][138]