‘Europe migrant terror threat overblown’

The arrest in Italy of a terror suspect posing as a boat migrant has fueled nightmare scenarios of jihadist infiltration of Europe, but experts say the threat is overblown and attacks by homegrown extremists are more likely.

Right-wing parties have seized on the incident as proof that groups like Islamic State (IS) are taking advantage of Europe’s migration crisis, in which thousands of refugees are making the risky Mediterranean crossing to flee war and poverty.

NATO’s chief Jens Stoltenberg also warned this week that battle-hardened “foreign fighters” who have joined jihadist outfits in Iraq and Syria could smuggle themselves into Europe by hiding on asylum-seeker vessels.

But analysts say extremist groups are more interested in holding territory in the Middle East than risking their men in flimsy dinghies, especially when they can rely on radicalized Europeans to do the work for them in their own countries, they say.

— AFP