EU: Another ISIS or lone-wolf attack probable
AMSTERDAM - European Union law enforcement officials have concluded it is only a question of where and when, not if another terrorist attack with mass casualties will be unleashed on the continent.
The European Union on Monday launched a new law enforcement center to coordinate the fight against violent extremism, saying Europe faces the most significant terrorist threat in over 10 years.
"There is every reason to expect that IS (the Islamic State organization), IS-inspired terrorists or another religiously inspired terrorist group will undertake a terrorist attack somewhere in Europe again, but particularly in France, intended to cause mass casualties among the civilian population," Europol, the EU-wide agency for law enforcement cooperation, said in a report, referring to an alternative acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS.) "This is in addition to the threat of lone-actor attacks, which has not diminished."
In addition to France, Belgium may be particularly vulnerable. Several of those involved in the Paris attacks came from one neighborhood in Brussels: Molenbeek.
In a documentary airing on CBSN on January 25, 2016 at 8 p.m. ET, the mom of an ISIS recruit from Belgium killed at 18 says the recruiters are the real problem.
"I hate the recruiters," said Geraldine Henneghien in tears. "Because they don't have the courage to go there. But they have the courage to send the young people there."
An early CBSN report called "Les Banlieues" based out of the same Paris suburbs where one of the Paris attackers was eventually killed while hiding out, Saint-Denis, many say marginalization in society drives the uptick in ISIS' ranks and creates lone wolves.
"If you look at the situation of people, you understand the path they have taken to become a terrorist or whatever you call it," Julien Villain, an 18-year-old resident with a French mother and Moroccan father, told CBS News correspondent Vladmir Duthiers. "Exclusion makes the terrorist, in my opinion."
Felix Marquardt, a convert to Islam whose efforts at reform have made him a target of extremists, said there is hardcore discrimination against Muslims -- especially men.
"Muslims in France are poorer on average than the rest of the population. Their kids go to schools that are not as high quality as the rest of the population. They live in neighborhoods that are not as nice as the rest of the population," he said. "The truth of the matter is, it sucks to be a Muslim in France."
The EU report coincided with the official opening of the European Counter Terrorism Center. Europol director Rob Wainwright said his organization's new unit in The Hague, Netherlands will be staffed by 40-50 experts in counterterrorism and deal in intelligence-sharing, tracking foreign fighters and sources of illegal financing and firearms, and assisting EU countries in counterterrorism investigations.
Wainwright said over 5,000 EU nationals have been radicalized by fighting with Muslim extremists in Iraq and Syria, and that many have returned home.
"The current threat demands a strong and ambitious response from the EU," said Europol's chief.