Despite the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina being long over, dangerous fissures, which seem international in their outlook, remain. On January 10, three Muslim men?Swedish, Turkish, and Bosnian nationals–were convicted for planning suicide attacks in Bosnia or elsewhere in Europe. Another Bosnian national was convicted earlier in the month on weapons charges. The motivation behind these planned attacks was allegedly to pressure the Bosnian and various European governments to withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan . This group is suspected to be connected to a terrorism case in Denmark in which four individuals are to face terrorism charges.
Europe appears to be a hotbed for Islamic radicalization and sympathies to causes outside Europe. Many European Muslims are angry at their government?s foreign policies. Numerous terrorism plots and terrorist cells in addition to actual terrorist incidents have been uncovered in Europe.
While foreign, mostly Arab Muslim fighters settled in Bosnia after the conflict there during the early 1990s, the majority of the Muslim population are not disaffected immigrants, but rather are natives. The war and conflict that ensued after the break-up of Yugoslavia can be construed as internecine conflict, with ethnic groups and religions engaged in bloodletting. The majority of the Muslim population the country has been considered liberal, but Bosnia could become a fertile breeding ground for radicalization.
Many point a finger at the foreign fighters who settled in Bosnia after the war as instigators for radicalization and terrorism. However, many claim they are being made scapegoats?they came to Bosnia to defend their Muslim brothers and have settled in the country post-conflict. A large part of the native population is Muslim, so nefarious forces could infiltrate that population. Ghosts and resentments from the war, a poor economy, and a fractured and separated system of governance have left suspicions that could be tapped into to form a pool of terrorist recruits. Weapons are easily accessible whether from underground trade or open stockpiles from the war. Bosnia?s weak political structure also makes it fertile for would-be terrorists. Bosnia is divided by complex ethnic and administrative lines that would be easy for terrorists to subvert without much scrutiny. Terrorists and other perpetrators of illegal activities would be able to slip between the cracks of the 16 active police forces. Slipping in and out of Bosnia for illegal activities is also not difficult. While Bosnia is not a failed state per se, it is a post-conflict, confused state with little transparency, making it a potentially attractive target for terrorist infiltration.
The Bosnian and European governments do realize the gravity of the situation. For example, the ?Alpha? rapid reaction anti-terrorism force was established to address some of the country?s terrorism vulnerabilities and to provide a unified counter-terrorism response. More work like this will be needed in the future.