Swedish city of Gothenburg largest incubator of ISIS terrorists in Europe
Dozens of radicalized European citizens have joined the extremist group of ISIS in the Swedish second largest city Gothenburg, the Swedish integration police chief, Ulf Boström, said on Sunday.
ISIS is considered the most organized terrorist group among several other Islamist cells uncovered in Sweden.
“ISIS has the strength, intellectual capacity and ability to coordinate. They are no fools,” Boström said in a statement.
The Swedish security service, Säpo, revealed that over 300 Swedish nationals have left the country heading to the embattled countries of Syria and Iraq to fight for ISIS.
“Some 120 young men are from Gothenburg city, which, in proportion to its population, contributes the highest number of people to violent extremism,” Boström said.
Those who joined the ISIS terror group are mainly descending from the criminal gangs who reside the Gothenburg suburbs, “many are of the young people who believe they have no future,” he argued.
“This really affects my work in Gothenburg as the vast majority of Muslims here hate terror attacks. They sometimes ask me, ‘How do you protect the good Muslims’.”
“They are terrified that this kind of terrorism creates a more xenophobic Europe,” he said.
Boström has previously been very critical of the Swedish government’s approach to returning militants.
In May, at least 100 Swedish militants have returned home and none of them has been prosecuted under the laws related to terror actions, according to the chief of Swedish integration police.
“Although the government has the names and social security numbers of these returning militants, who came back from Syria or Iraq, it still provides them with health care and helps them.”
The ISIS extremist group claimed Saturday its responsibility for the terror attacks on the French capital Paris on Friday, during which at least 127 people were killed and 300 more injured.
With the terrorist returning home from the frontlines in Syria and Iraq, many western leaders fear they could radicalise their fellow countrymen or may launch attacks on home soil.
/257
