Alarm in Europe: Target for major attack revealed

Given three deadly operations carried out by the Islamic State (IS) since the beginning of this year in Iran, Turkey and Moscow, and four IS-inspired attacks in Europe after October 7, 2023 – in Arras and Paris, France and Brussels, Belgium and Zurich, Switzerland - it is very likely that this terrorist organization or its supporters will try to attack sporting events and other targets in Europe in the coming months.

Serious warning 

This should be taken seriously as the Islamic State planned to carry out an attack during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but it was prevented. But intelligence agencies monitoring the Islamic State and its sympathizers are recording an increasing number of threats and announcements indicating they are planning attacks in Europe.

They should be taken seriously and not ignored, as the Russian authorities did, so in March IS terrorists killed 144 people who were going to a concert in Moscow.

The Islamic State's announcements that revenge against "infidels" and "crusaders" will soon follow were especially intensified after October 7, when Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis, and then Israel launched a revenge operation targeting Hamas members as well as tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, for months, causing anger and a desire for revenge in much of the Islamic world.

Islamists use this anger about Gaza towards the West in their propaganda, pointing out that the US, France and other countries support Israel politically, financially and by supplying it with weapons, so they should be punished.

The danger of terrorism

A few days ago, Thomas Haldenwang, president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence agency, also warned that they were monitoring Islamist groups and individuals for possible terrorist attacks.

Especially since two major sporting events are coming up this summer: the European Football Championship in Germany and the Olympic Games in Paris.

"And in that field, the threat level is high. At the moment, although concrete plans for an attack are not known, the abstract danger is extremely high," he added in an interview with Deutsche Welle.

Haldenwang stated that the Islamic State of Khorasan (IS-K), which is active in Afghanistan and Pakistan, is particularly committed to a large, spectacular attack.

"We can imagine various scenarios. One of the very dangerous ones is, for example, that teams of attackers come to Germany, maybe some have already come, and then carry out an attack as a group," Haldenwang said.

Threats to organizers

The Soufan Center also reminded that the Islamic State of Khorasan sent threats to the organizers of the European Football Championship in Germany, the Olympic Games in France and the Champions League matches.

The pro-Islamic state propaganda newspaper Halumu also called on supporters to attack "stands and matches in stadiums", and an Arabic-language poster calling for an attack on the Summer Olympics with "dynamite, explosives, molotov cocktails and knives" was posted online.

Earlier this week, French authorities announced the arrest of a 16-year-old boy who wrote on social media that he wanted to "die as a martyr" at the Paris Olympics.

In addition, photos released by IS-K suggest that the best places to attack are London's Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal, Madrid's Metropolitano and Santiago Bernabeu stadiums (Atletico and Real) and Parc des Princes in Paris (PSG, although the club is owned by Arabs). 

Numerous attacks

Maybe nothing will happen, but it would be foolish to ignore these threats. Islamic State has already carried out numerous attacks on sporting events on several continents, the deadliest of which was on November 13, 2015, when suicide bombers carried out multiple attacks at several different locations in Paris, killing 130 people and injuring 400.

In June 2016, two supporters of the Islamic State threw a grenade at the spectators of the European Championship match between Italy and Spain.

In April 2017, a suspected IS supporter in Germany detonated bombs near a bus carrying the Borussia Dortmund team, and in July 2018, IS sympathizers attacked foreign cyclists in Tajikistan.

On October 16, 2023, an IS supporter shot Swedish soccer fans in Brussels in retaliation for the burning of the Koran in Stockholm. The latest threats from the Islamic State will require significant security preparation and vigilance given IS's proven ability to carry out its threats.

Particularly dangerous are Islamists from the central part of IS in Syria and, increasingly, from its Khorasan branch in Afghanistan/Pakistan.

This year's deadly attacks in Iran and Moscow show that Islamic State can orchestrate mass bloodshed, or at least inspire sympathizers who then act on their own, making them harder to thwart.