Twenty extremist jihadist cells are currently operating in the Balkans, with the aim of launching terrorist attacks across Europe, Italian intelligence services have warned, according to recent Italian media reports. Most of these groups are located in Kosovo, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, but there are also groups in Montenegro, Serbia and North Macedonia. They are said to represent a “breeding ground of security threats” to the whole of Europe, reports the media outlet Blic.
According to the media outlet Il Tempo, the cells have been in existence for about two years and have seen increased activity recently, especially since the start of the war in Israel. The cells are made up of around 500 ISIS returnees from the battlefields in Syria and Iraq, but new members are constantly being recruited, including from migrants taking the Balkan route to Western Europe.
Returning Islamic State terrorists are a major security risk for Europe
At the time of the discovery of these cells, there were more than 1,000 members who left the Balkans to join the ranks of the Islamic State during the war in Syria. The problem is that less than half of them have returned. They now represent a potential risk factor for European and national security, especially in view of the military experience they have acquired and the sometimes strong links with the diaspora in Europe, according to Italian media reports. They also warn of the organisation’s leaders, among whom, they claim, the “Balkan Lions” stand out – a network tasked with strengthening the movement’s “fringe elements” and carrying out new terrorist actions in Europe.
The 20 jihadist cells mentioned include Salafist and Wahhabi groups based in Kosovo, Albania and Bosnia. But not only there. Italian intelligence services warn that “the main characteristics of the groups are transnational and inter-ethnic networks, often with European links.” They claim that there is a high risk of these people breaking into Europe, Blic reports.
150,000 migrants, including terrorists
Security services point out that almost 150,000 migrants crossed the Balkan route last year alone. Between January and August this year, 52,000 new arrivals were made. They pass through known land routes and through groups of human traffickers and easily come into contact with extremists. We are talking about migrants from Pakistan to Nepal, but there are also migrants from other countries, especially from North Africa. It should be noted that the countries in the region have already been informed of what is going on.
The Slovenian government has made an already difficult situation even more difficult
Of course, the warnings will fall on deaf ears in countries where the left is in power. In Slovenia, the police are clearly instructed to actively cover up crimes committed by migrants – as we saw with the rape of a 79-year-old woman in Postojna and the rape of a young woman in the middle of Ljubljana, we journalists have to fight to find out what really happened, and all the while the police cover up events quietly and do not report on them if the perpetrators were illegal migrants.
In addition, at a time of a worsening migrant crisis, our government has removed the border fence, and now they will have blood on their hands from all the victims of crimes committed by the migrants, so it is clear that, instead of tackling the crisis itself, the government will be looking for PR manoeuvres to help them pretend that there really is no crisis. The situation in the Middle East will, however, prevent them from being able to continue with their pretences, because Europe will very soon become a refuge for the majority of the Palestinian enclave in Gaza, which is considered one of the most radical in the world.
I. K.
