Dutch see home-grown terrorism threat growing
The threat of terrorism in the Netherlands increasingly comes from home-grown Islamist militants who could strike at any time without orders from abroad, the Dutch intelligence service said on Thursday.
The Netherlands, shaken by the violent murder of a filmmaker in 2004 seen as critical of Islam, still faces a substantial threat despite the sentencing of nine young men to jail terms earlier this month for belonging to a group that threatened terrorist crimes, the service’s chief said.
The Netherlands’ security alert level has been at “substantial” since the bombing attacks in London on July 7 last year, the second highest in a four-stage warning system.
“The Dutch situation is different from the rest of Europe. The threat of home-grown Jihad (Holy War) is greater than in any other European country,” secret service chief Sybrand van Hulst said at a news conference.
Another difference was that political leaders and opinion makers were the main targets, said Van Hulst, whose organisation is monitoring more than 150 people.
In a report sent to parliament on Thursday entitled “The Violent Jihad in The Netherlands - Current Trends of Islamist Terrorist Threat” the AIVD secret service said that the war in Iraq and the Dutch presence in Afghanistan acted as motivation for possible attacks and for recruitment.
The Dutch government will send up to 1,400 additional troops to Afghanistan for expanded NATO peacekeeping in June.
Read full article: Reuters AlertNet, 30 March 2006
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