Spain Comes Under Attack by Jihadists After Years Without Incident

Spain Comes Under Attack by Jihadists After Years Without Incident

by Tara John via TIME

URL: http://ift.tt/2vMH5yc

The Islamic State has claimed credit for a van attack in Barcelona that left 12 dead and 80 injured on Thursday, the Associated Press reports. While ISIS’ involvement has not yet been independently confirmed, the episode appears to mark the return of Islamic terrorism to Spanish territory after years without a serious incident.

The Barcelona attack is the latest in a recent spate of vehicular attacks in Europe, starting with the 2016 attacks in Nice, France. Together, vehicles being used as a weapon have killed more than 100 people in London, Berlin, Nice and Stockholm, _Reuters_reports.

This is the first time Spain has come under a major attack in over a decade. But it is no stranger to Islamic terrorism. The 2004 Madrid train bombings, carried out by a group of North African extremists, killed 191 people and injured nearly 2,000 after 10 devices packed with dynamite and nails exploded in four trains heading to the Spanish capital. The al-Qaeda inspired attack was the worst terrorist incident in modern European history.

Since 2004, Spain has made 700 arrests and dozens of convictions against suspected jihadis and has been effective in thwarting attacks ahead of time. In 2008, officials prevented a Madrid-inspired metro attack planned by suspects linked to Pakistan’s Taliban. Experts say these preventative arrests is why the country has avoided attacks in the last 13 years. Meanwhile, xenophobia in Spain is comparatively low, while the number of combatants who have left Spain for Syria and Iraq are far lower than in other European countries — around 150 Spaniards are estimated to have traveled to Syria, compared to 1,200 from France.

Yet the country has seen an uptick in jihadist activity in recent months. In April, police arrested nine suspected members of a jihadi group, believed to have links to the suspects arrested following the 2016 Brussels airport and subway attacks. More recently, authorities caught a suspect in Mallorca who was planning to carry out a knife attack, which, according to the Local Spain, followed “the modus operandi of the recent London Bridge attacks in which eight people were killed and more than 40 injured.”

Catalonia, the region where Barcelona is located, is also where Ramzi Binalshibh, who helped plot the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, liaised with al-Qaeda leaders two months before the events, according to the Spanish think tank Elcano Royal Institute.