A newly released report from Sweden’s National Center for Terror Threat Assessment (NCT) has warned that despite recent victories over the Islamic State, radical Islamic terror remains the number one threat to Swedish security.
The report, which compiles expertise from the Security Service (Sapo), the Military Intelligence and Security Service, and the Defense Radio Institute, said that the country still remains a legitimate target for supporters of radical Islamic extremism, broadcaster Sveriges Radio reports.
Linda Thörnell, head of NCT, spoke about the report saying that the Islamic State terror group still remains a key source of inspiration for jihadis across Sweden.
“The inspiration has partly gone down, the enthusiasm for Daesh has diminished, but Daesh continues to inspire attacks and it still happens,” Thörnell said.
The NCT also noted that any future attacks are likely to follow the same pattern as recent terror attacks in Europe, a lone wolf with a knife, gun or vehicle committing terror after being inspired by the Islamic State and its propaganda.
Thörnell said it was “too early to say” what effect the losses sustained by the terror group in Iraq and Syria would have in Sweden.
Sweden: Serious Crimes Committed by Returned ISIS Fighters https://t.co/RATEkXYiSp
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 16, 2019
On Friday U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Islamic State had lost its final territory in Syria and had been “100 percent” defeated in the country.
“Now we have made the assessment that we have a continued heightened terrorist threat in Sweden,” Thörnell added.
So far Sweden has only seen one major terror attack: the Stockholm attack in 2017 that was committed by Uzbek failed asylum seeker Rakhmat Akilov, who it later emerged was a sympathiser of the Islamic State.
Sweden has also seen around 150 of the 300 or so of its citizens return from fighting for the terror group Syria and Iraq with some, including Shia Muslims, concerned about the danger posed by the returning jihadists.
Even more concerning have been reports that returned fighters in Malmö have been trying to recruit new jihadis in underground mosques.
Swedish PM: ISIS Fighters Can Return, Refuses to Strip Citizenship https://t.co/PCTRjLQaRV
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 5, 2019
Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com
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