EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Europol Terrorism Situation & Trend Report 2008

Europol Terrorism Situation & Trend Report 2008

Introduction

The Europol Terrorism Situation & Trend Report (TE-SAT) gives an overview of the situation regarding terrorism in the European Union. It establishes basic facts and figures concerning terrorist attacks, arrests and activities in EU Member States. The 2008 Report gives a detailed overview of the manifestation of terrorism in Europe over the year 2007 and defines the main trends that can be observed in this respect. The TE-SAT has been published annually since 2002.

Description

In 2007, nine Member States reported a total of 583 failed, foiled or successfully executed attacks. This constitutes a 24% increase in comparison to 2006. Of the 583 attacks, 517 were claimed or attributed to separatist terrorist groups in Spain and France.

The TE-SAT Report looks at four types of terrorism, which manifested itself in the following ways in 2007:

Ethno-nationalist & separatist terrorism; this type constitutes the largest category. 91% of all reported attacks were claimed by or attributed to separatist terrorist groups.
Islamist terrorism; two failed and two attempted attacks were reported in 2007 in the UK, Denmark and Germany. The attacks mainly aimed at causing indiscriminate mass casualties;
Left-Wing & Anarchist terrorism; this type was responsible for 21 attacks, mostly in Italy and Spain. The vast majority of the attacks were successfully executed and aimed at governmental institutions or private businesses;
Right-Wing terrorism; One right-wing terrorist attack was reported for 2007 in Portugal;
Single issue terrorism; this type of terrorism was introduced as a new category for the 2008 Report. Although a number of incidents
were attributed or claimed by animal rights and environmentalist extremist groups, only one was contributed as a terrorist attack.

Conclusions

The TE-SAT Report defines the following set of trends regarding terrorism:

The number of terrorist attacks in the EU is increasing;
The number of suspects arrested for terrorism in the EU is increasing;
The number of home-made explosives in terrorist attacks is increasing;
More terrorism propaganda is being produced and distributed over the Internet than ever before;
Islamist terrorism in the EU continues to aim at causing indiscriminate mass casualties;
Islamist terrorism in the EU is increasingly influenced by Pakistani-based al-Qaeda-affiliated groups and networks;
The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have a large impact on the security environment in the EU;
Youths continue to be responsible for the vast majority of Basque separatist terrorist attacks;
Basque separatist terrorists continue to use France as a logistical base;
The Kurdish-Turkish conflict has an influence on the security situation in the EU;
Left-wing and anarchist terrorist attacks in the EU are decreasing;
Activities by right-wing terrorists and extremists are increasing.

Contact info

Europol
The Hague
Phone: +31-(0)70 302 50 00
Fax: +31-(0)70 345 58 96
corporate.communications@europol.europa.eu

Publication date

//2008

Project finished

//2008

Researcher

Europol

Article info
ISBN: 978-92-95018-73-0
ISSN: 1830-9712

Links

For more information, please visit the Europol website

Download the Europol TE-SAT Report (PDF, Eng, 851 kB)

Document type

research

Themes

Urban Policy

Keywords

Security & crime prevention