The NY Times report provides a fascinating illumination of the structure, reach, and operations of a European-based jihadist network and underlines the growing threat of both homegrown jihadist cells in Europe and those associated with regional terrorist groups and veteran fighters from the Iraq jihadist front.
Spanish officials characterize this specific network as including two ?inter-related? cells?seemingly based in Madrid and Barcelona?and connected to Moroccan radical Islamist groups operating in Algeria , Belgium , France , Morocco , the Netherlands , Syria , and Turkey along with the Algerian Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat and the Moroccan Islamic Combat Group . The Madrid cell leader was an Algerian who is believed to have had training in Afghanistan .
Spain?s Interior Minister, Jose Antonio Alonso , described the operations of the cells: “One of the cells had as its objective the recruitment of and logistical assistance for suicide terrorist networks in Iraq. The other involved pinpointing, indoctrinating and the sending of combatants to conflict zones, centered on providing forces to the Al Zarqawi [Group Profile]-Ansar Al Islam [Group Profile] network and facilitating the transfer of operatives from north Africa to their final destination in Iraq.” According to the Times, Alonso also said that one of the core missions of the network was to reintegrate veterans of the Iraq jihadist battlefield into Spanish society and scout for terrorist targets and recruits.
The connections of the cells draw into relief a vast network of jihadist logistical, recruiting, and operational activities, concerning not only because of its reach and entrenchment within Europe, but also in its role as a conduit to the Iraq jihadist battlefield. As has been discussed in these pages for some time, Iraq has become a powerful rallying cause of radicalization and recruitment for jihadists in Europe, as well as a training ground for foreign militants who then, as exemplified in the uncovered Spain-based network (among others), are able to proliferate back into their home or ?Western? societies to lead or aid jihadist networks and cells. The infusion of battle-honed veterans from Iraq and their relative ?state-of-the-art? terrorist tradecraft expertise will likely enhance the operational potency of their groups. That this network was actively facilitating the reintegration of Iraq jihadist veterans into society confirms these concerns.
That so seemingly extensive and sophisticated a network was uncovered operating within Europe does not bode well for European security and suggests that in light of the Madrid train bombings , the London subway bombings (Terrorist Incident and Terrorist Incident), and jihadist assassinations and intimidation of politicians in the Netherlands (WAR Report), Europe has become a primary front for global jihadist militancy and terrorism.
