The Defense Research Institute (FFI) has reviewed 203 cases of far-right terror in Western Europe. The work has been done together with the Center for Extremism Research at the University of Oslo. The new data set means that the researchers can for the first time compare far-right terror with jihadist attacks. The preliminary figures will be presented today. The figures show that jihadist terror is six times more deadly than far-right terror. – Jihadism has been a much bigger and deadlier threat until now, says chief researcher at FFI, Petter Nesser to news. Petter Nesser at FFI has for a number of years collected data on jihadist terrorist attacks in Europe. Now FFI and UiO have a new data set on far-right terrorists that provides new knowledge. Photo: Stig Jaarvik / news On average, six people were killed for each jihadist attack, while far-right terrorist attacks claimed the life of one person on average. If you exclude the deadliest attacks on each side (for example the terrorist attack of 22 July and the Madrid bombings of 2004) on average one person was killed for each jihadist attack. Far-right terrorist attacks then claimed the lives of 0.33 victims on average. The attacks are from the 1990s to the present day. Jihadists attack in groups One explanation for the fact that Islamist terrorist attacks have been more deadly is that jihadists have historically planned and attacked in groups. 32 innocent people lost their lives in the attacks against the airport and a subway car in Brussels in March 2016. Nine people have been charged with the terrorist attack. Photo: STRINGER / AFP The jihadist terrorist cells in Europe are often also linked to extreme groups abroad. – The jihadists have had a completely different organization and capacity for violence. When jihadists, for example, have built bombs, they have done so with expertise and used people with high execution power, Nesser. An example of this is the terrorist attack in Paris in November 2015. In half an hour, 130 people were killed and several hundred injured after a series of coordinated attacks in the French capital. The terrorist group IS was behind it. Becoming more like each other Nesser will also challenge the perception that far-right terror has been on the rise, while Islamist terror has decreased. – Islamist terror has decreased less than most people think. Far-right terror has increased, but it is currently a slight increase, says Nesser. The figures show that 25 percent of all attack activity by jihadists in Europe has occurred after the terrorist group IS began to weaken from 2017. The graph shows completed and averted attacks by extreme Islamists from 1994 to the present day. In the years after IS was formed in 2014, the terrorist group was behind a wave of attacks in Europe. The next image shows the far right plot. The graph shows well-documented far-right terrorist attacks and attempts from 1990 to the present day. The green color shows completed attacks and the brown shows attacks that were averted. Jihadists, however, have begun to operate more as right-wing extremists – that is, alone. At the same time, right-wing extremists have started to form terrorist cells. – Jihadists want to operate in groups, but operating alone is a tactical adaptation to the counter-terrorist regime in Europe. That right-wing extremists act in groups can be a sign of increased capacity, says Nesser. Hypothesis: Jihadists have weeded out the unstable Another finding is that questions are more often asked about the mental health of right-wing extremists than jihadists. In 36 per cent of the far-right attacks and attempts, questions have been asked about the terrorist’s mental health. The same is the case for 4 percent of Islamist terrorist cases. Nesser emphasizes that the researchers do not have access to medical records. FFI has recorded whether psychological problems have been a topic in the court cases or the media coverage of the incident. The Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik is an example of a person that FFI has registered in this way. Cases where the perpetrators are obviously insane have also been weeded out. One of the reasons why the number is so high for right-wing extremists is that three perpetrators with mental problems have been behind many of the incidents. Among other things, the “laser man” and “the new laser man” who were behind a number of murders of people with dark hair or skin color in Sweden. When these series of attacks are combined, the figure drops from 36 to 13 percent. The explanation that the extreme right is still overrepresented may lie in the fact that the extreme right has often carried out attacks alone. – There are many people who do not have a network around them and are radicalized a lot online, says Nesser. – Islamists, who have operated in groups, may have seen people with mental health problems as unstable and as a security risk. Therefore, they may have been weeded out in a recruitment process, explains Nesser.
ttn-69
Jihadist terror is more deadly than far-right terror – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
