recent arrests suggest a wider Islamic State presence in Europe than previously thought

[Albertoo]

The ISIS problem in Europe is apparently greater than authorities thought.

Terror Network’s Web Sprawls Beyond Brussels and Paris
Multiple recent arrests suggest a wider Islamic State presence in Europe than previously thought

A pan-European effort to crack the Islamic State network behind the Paris and Brussels attacks is yielding an unsettling discovery—a web of interlocking terror cells whose dimensions authorities say they are still trying to grasp.

The string of arrests, which come on top of multiple other detentions in recent months, suggests the terror networks being pursued by European authorities spread beyond Paris and Brussels.

A senior U.S. official said arrests showed terror network had become “very sophisticated.”
Other officials said the arrests also have revealed its sheer scale.
“There is a large number [of members], all across Europe,” the official said.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/terror-networks-web-sprawls-beyond-brussels-and-paris-1459124085

[840high]

1. They're just finding this out?

[Albertoo]

2. I suppose they were in wishful denial

[romanic]

3. No shit Europe.

[Albertoo]

4. Not sure they're picking the right time to absorb millions of Syrian/Iraqi refugees..

[davidn3600]

5. European leaders have so far handled this incredibly bad

They are trying so hard not to admit it, but they have a BIG problem.

[Albertoo]

6. They actually hoped radicals would go away if they appeased them

Wrong move. **beep**

[MowCowWhoHow III]

7. How ISIS Built the Machinery of Terror Under Europe’s Gaze

How ISIS Built the Machinery of Terror Under Europe’s Gaze

The day he left Syria with instructions to carry out a terrorist attack in France, Reda Hame, a 29-year-old computer technician from Paris, had been a member of the Islamic State for just over a week.

His French passport and his background in information technology made him an ideal recruit for a rapidly expanding group within ISIS that was dedicated to terrorizing Europe. Over just a few days, he was rushed to a park, shown how to fire an assault rifle, handed a grenade and told to hurl it at a human silhouette. His accelerated course included how to use an encryption program called TrueCrypt, the first step in a process intended to mask communications with his ISIS handler back in Syria.

The handler, code-named Dad, drove Mr. Hame to the Turkish border and sent him off with advice to pick an easy target, shoot as many civilians as possible and hold hostages until the security forces made a martyr of him.

“Be brave,” Dad said, embracing him.

Mr. Hame was sent out by a body inside the Islamic State that was obsessed with striking Europe for at least two years before the deadly assaults in Paris last November and in Brussels this month. In that time, the group dispatched a string of operatives trained in Syria, aiming to carry out small attacks meant to test and stretch Europe’s security apparatus even as the most deadly assaults were in the works, according to court proceedings, interrogation transcripts and records of European wiretaps obtained by The New York Times.

Officials now say the signs of this focused terrorist machine were readable in Europe as far back as early 2014. Yet local authorities repeatedly discounted each successive plot, describing them as isolated or random acts, the connection to the Islamic State either overlooked or played down.

Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/29/world/europe/isis-attacks-paris-brussels.html

Also lots of recent related tweets @ https://twitter.com/rcallimachi

[Albertoo]

8. good article. Skipped it in my daily NYT.

[AngryAmish]

9. We are so fucked.