‘Stay-at-home’ jihadists pose new threat, Dutch warn

While European intelligence focuses on the dangers of Islamist fighters returning from Iraq or Syria, the Netherlands warns of the growing threat from radicalized Muslims who have never left home.

These “stay-at-home” militants are sometimes “frustrated after failing to join the fight” in the Middle East,” the Dutch security service AIVD says in its annual report.

They could also never have had the intention of going to the battlefield but “get radicalized at home by the propaganda of groups such as Islamic State,” which controls swaths of Iraq and Syria, it says.

Around 180 Dutch nationals have traveled to join Islamic State or other Islamist groups, according to the latest figures.

Around 20 have been killed in fighting, and 35 have returned to the Netherlands.

The report said there were “several hundred” jihadists in the Netherlands at the moment, and “thousands” of sympathizers.

— AFP