(AFP/Washington Times) The return of Europe's jihadists from Iraq is giving the Continent's intelligence services nightmares. Last October, Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr warned that intercepted correspondence between Abu Musab Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, and other figures in the movement had revealed a decision to send large numbers of Islamist volunteers back to their countries of origin to wage holy war. Baltazar Garzon, a Spanish judge who has led inquiries into al-Qaeda in Spain, said last week that large numbers of veterans of the Iraqi jihad were returning to Europe. "Infrastructures are being put in place to accommodate them," he added. Claude Moniquet, director of the Brussels-based European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center, estimates that there are "several hundred" former fighters from Iraq in Western Europe and says they are "potentially very dangerous." "Given the high motivation and the youth of these Iraqi volunteers, the risk that they will start to commit terrorist acts on European soil is very real," he said.
2006-04-19 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive