Europe Afraid of the Return of Foreign Terrorists from Syria, Iraq

VIENNA, (ST)- Peter Gridling, Director of The Austrian Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism has expressed the European countries’ concern over the return of terrorists of European nationalities from Syria and Iraq to their countries.

“The sleeper cells formed upon the return of the terrorists from Syria and Iraq pose the biggest threat to the European continent,” Gridling warned in a statement to the Austrian Krone newspaper.

The warning came after the European Police (Europol) Office had published a report on the unknown fate and place of more than 100,000 terrorists in the world.

 According to Gridling, 320 Austrian terrorists attempted to travel to Syria and Iraq since 2011 to fight alongside the terrorist organizations. He said that 62 of those terrorists were prevented from leaving the country, whereas 93 of them returned home after being engaged in the fight within the ranks of terrorist groups and 58 were killed. He added that by the end of 2018, 107 Austrian terrorists had remained in conflict zones and their fate hasn’t been clear yet,

Western countries are experiencing a state of security alert fearing the backfire of the terrorism they have supported in some countries, including Syria.

Hamda Mustafa