Terrorism2016 EU terrorism: 142 failed, foiled, and completed attacks; 142 victims killed
In 2016, a total of 142 failed, foiled and completed attacks were reported by eight EU member states. 142 victims died in terrorist attacks, and 379 were injured in the EU. Although there was a large number of terrorist attacks not connected with jihadism, the latter accounts for the most serious forms of terrorist activity as nearly all reported fatalities and most of the casualties were the result of jihadist terrorist attacks. Explosives were used in 40 percent of the attacks and women and young adults, and even children, are playing increasingly operational roles in committing terrorist activities independently in the EU.
In 2016, a total of 142 failed, foiled and completed attacks were reported by eight EU member states. More than half (76) of them were reported by the United Kingdom. France reported 23 attacks, Italy 17, Spain 10, Greece 6, Germany 5, Belgium 4, and the Netherlands 1 attack. 142 victims died in terrorist attacks, and 379 were injured in the EU. Although there was a large number of terrorist attacks not connected with jihadism, the latter accounts for the most serious forms of terrorist activity as nearly all reported fatalities and most of the casualties were the result of jihadist terrorist attacks. Explosives were used in 40 percent of the attacks and women and young adults, and even children, are playing increasingly operational roles in committing terrorist activities independently in the EU. Most arrests were related to jihadist terrorism, for which the number rose for the third consecutive year. Also, the European Counter Terrorism Centre at Europol supported 127 counter terrorism investigations in 2016, which shows a clear indication of the growing range of jihadist activity.
These are some of the key findings of the 10th edition of the yearly EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT), which Europol has produced since 2007. Europol says that the TE-SAT, published last week, provides a concise overview of the nature of terrorism that the EU faced in 2016 and looks in detail at terrorist attacks that occurred: the largest number of attacks in which a terrorist affiliation could be identified were carried out by ethno-nationalist and separatist extremists (99). Attacks carried out by left-wing violent extremists have been on the rise since 2014; they reached a total of 27 in 2016, of which most (16) were reported by Italy. Although the total number of jihadist terrorist attacks decreased from 17 in 2015 to 13 attacks in 2016, of which 6 were linked to the so-called Islamic State (IS), 135 of the 142 victims of terrorist attacks in 2016 were killed in the 13 jihadist attacks.
