5,000 ISIS Terrorists Roaming in Europe , Planning Attacks: Report

Nearly 5,000 ISIS-trained terrorists could be at large in Europe ready to launch attacks, the EU’s police chief has warned.

European Union police agency, Europol, estimates the number of EU citizens who have slipped back after training in the West Asia region as between 3,000 and 5,000, Rob Wainwright, the British head of Europol has said.

“Europe is currently facing the highest terror threat in more than ten years.” Mr Wainwright said.

“We can expect ISIS or other terror groups to stage an attack somewhere in Europe with the aim of achieving mass casualties among the civilian population,” he told Germany’s Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper.

However, he played down fears terrorists are using the migrant crisis to enter Europe posing as asylum seekers.

“The growing number of foreign fighters is presenting EU countries with completely new challenges,” Wainwright told NOZ. Most of the perpetrators of the Paris attacks were European nationals who had travelled overseas and then come back to Europe to plan the attacks.

“It is to be expected that ISIS or other religious terrorist groups will carry out an attack somewhere in Europe – with the aim of killing as many civilians as possible.”

Wainwright added that attacks were to be feared not only from groups, but that the threat of individual perpetrators was still very present. “In addition, there is a risk of individual terrorists, this has not been reduced,” he said.

In an effort to combat the increasing terror threat in Europe, Europol opened the European Counter Terrorism Centre in January. The centre collects information from all over the continent and links European police together.