Islamic terrorism

=== Europe ===
{{Main|Islamic terrorism in Europe|Al-Qaeda activities in Europe}}
{{See also|Foreign fighters in the Syrian and Iraqi Civil Wars}}
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|caption=Planned and foiled Jihadist terror attacks in Europe. Numbers for 2017 and 2018 are preliminary.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-hasnt-won-the-war-on-terror/|title=Europe hasn't won the war on terror|last=Nesser|first=Petter|date=5 December 2018|website=[[Politico]]|access-date=9 December 2018}}</ref>
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Lethal attacks on civilians in Europe which have been credited to Islamist terrorism include the [[2004 Madrid train bombings|2004 bombings of commuter trains in Madrid]], where 191 people were killed, the [[7 July 2005 London bombings]], also of public transport, which killed 52 commuters, and the 2015 [[Charlie Hebdo shooting|''Charlie Hebdo'' shooting]], in [[Paris]], where 12 people were killed in response to the satirical weekly newspaper ''[[Charlie Hebdo]]'' depicting cartoons of [[Muhammad]]. On 13 November 2015 the French capital suffered [[November 2015 Paris attacks|a series of coordinated attacks]], claimed by [[ISIS]], that killed 129 people in restaurants, the [[Bataclan theatre]] and the [[Stade de France]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Dearden|first1=Lizzie|title=Paris attack: Isis warns 'This is just the beginning' after killing at least 127 people in French capital|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/paris-attacks-this-is-just-the-beginning-isis-vows-after-killing-at-least-127-people-in-french-a6734546.html|access-date=17 November 2015|newspaper=The Independent|date=15 November 2015}}</ref>

Out of 1,009 arrests for terrorism in 2008, 187 were in relation to Islamist terrorism. The report showed that the majority of Islamist terror suspects were second or third generation immigrants.<ref name="Europol-2009a">{{cite web|url=https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/publications/tesat2009_1.pdf|title=EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report TE-SAT 2009|year=2009|publisher=[[Europol]]|page=21|access-date=29 July 2015}}</ref>

In 2009, a [[Europol]] report showed that more than 99% of terrorist attacks in Europe over the last three years were, carried out by non-Muslims.<ref name="Europol-2009a" />{{Page needed|date=December 2018}} Swedish economist [[Tino Sanandaji]] has criticised the use of statistics where the number of attacks are counted instead of the number of killed, since 79% of terrorist deaths 2001–2011 in Europe were due to Islamic terrorism. Therefore, statistics focusing on the number of attacks instead of the number killed are exploited by those who wish to trivialise the phenomenon.<ref name=":1t">{{Cite news|title=Islamists caused overwhelming majority of terrorist deaths in Europe during last decade|url=http://tino.us/2011/02/islamists-caused-overwhelming-majority-of-terrorist-deaths-in-europe-during-last-decade/|work=Tino Sanandaji blog|date=20 February 2011}}</ref> The great difference in the number of attacks versus the number of killed is that separatist attacks in Spain, typically involve vandalism and not killing. So in statistics, the global terrorist plot leading to the 9/11 attack and a party headquarters being vandalised and painted with slogans by domestic terrorists each count as one terrorist attack.<ref name=":1t" /> According to a report by [[Europol]] on terrorism in the [[European Union]], in 2016 "nearly all reported fatalities and most of the casualties were the result of jihadist terrorist attacks." A majority of about two-thirds of all terrorist-related arrests in the EU were also jihadist-related.<ref name="Europol17">{{Cite book|title=EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT) 2017|url=https://www.europol.europa.eu/activities-services/main-reports/eu-terrorism-situation-and-trend-report-te-sat-2017|publisher=Europol|year=2017|page=10|isbn=978-9295200791}}</ref>

The majority of deaths by terrorism in Europe from 2001 to 2014 were caused by Islamic terrorism, not including Islamic terrorist attacks in European Russia.<ref>{{Cite news|title= Daily chart: Terror attacks |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/01/daily-chart-8|newspaper=The Economist|date=15 January 2015}}</ref>

According to the British think tank<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dTt0rG_B130C&pg=PA103|title=Understanding Terrorism in the Age of Global Media: A Communication Approach|last=Archetti|first=Cristina|date=29 October 2012|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0-230-36049-5|pages=103|language=en|quote=The London think tank, International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) [...]}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> [[The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence|ICSR]], up to 40% of terrorist plots in Europe are part-financed through [[petty crime]] such as drug-dealing, theft, robberies, loan fraud and burglaries. Jihadists use ordinary crime as a way to finance their activity and have also argued this to be the "ideologically correct" way to wage jihad in [[Dar al-Harb|non-Muslim lands]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://icsr.info/2016/10/new-icsr-report-criminal-pasts-terrorist-futures-european-jihadists-new-crime-terror-nexus/|title=Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures: European Jihadists and the New Crime-Terror Nexus / ICSR|date=11 October 2016|work=[[The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence]]|access-date=14 July 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>

The pattern of jihadist attacks in 2017 led Europol to conclude that terrorists preferred to attack people rather than causing property damage or loss of capital.<ref name="Europol18">{{cite book|url=https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/tesat_2018.pdf|title=European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2018 (TE SAT 2018)|date=2018|publisher=[[Europol]]|isbn=978-92-95200-91-3|pages=5–9, 22–25, 35–36|access-date=23 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620144052/https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/tesat_2018.pdf|archive-date=20 June 2018}}</ref>

According to [[Europol]], the jihadist attacks in 2017 had three patterns:<ref name="te_sat_2018_p4">{{cite book|url=https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/tesat_2018.pdf|title=European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2018 (TE SAT 2018)|date=2018|publisher=[[Europol]]|isbn=978-92-95200-91-3|pages=4|access-date=23 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620144052/https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/tesat_2018.pdf|archive-date=20 June 2018}}</ref>

*Indiscriminate killings: London [[2017 Westminster attack|March]] & [[2017 London Bridge attack|June]] attacks and [[2017 Barcelona attacks|Barcelona]] attacks.<ref name="te_sat_2018_p4" />
*Attacks on Western lifestyle: the [[Manchester Arena bombing|Manchester bombing in May 2017]].<ref name="te_sat_2018_p4" />
*Attacks on symbols of authority: Paris attacks in February, June and August.<ref name="te_sat_2018_p4" />

The agency's report also noted that jihadist attacks had caused more deaths and casualties than any other type of terrorist attack, that such attacks had become more frequent, and that there had been a decrease in the sophistication and preparation of the attacks.<ref name="Europol18" />

According to [[Susanne Schröter]], the 2017 attacks in European countries showed that the military defeat of the Islamic State did not mean the end of Islamist violence. Schröter also wrote that the events in Europe looked like a delayed implementation of jihadist strategy formulated by [[Abu Musab al Suri|Abu Musab al-Suri]] in 2005, where an intensification of terror should destabilise societies and encourage Muslim youth to revolt. The expected civil war never materialised Europe, but did occur in other regions such as North Africa and the Philippines.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.normativeorders.net/de/presse/medienecho/40-presse/presse-echo/5606-dschihadisten-als-elitetruppe-des-islams-eine-klare-ablehnung-dieser-position-durch-islamische-verbaende-in-deutschland-fehlt-von-susanne-schroeter|title=Dschihadisten als Elitetruppe des Islams. Eine klare Ablehnung dieser Position durch islamische Verbände in Deutschland fehlt / Von Susanne Schröter|last=Storm|first=Linde|website=normativeorders.net|language=de-de|access-date=1 December 2018|archive-date=27 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181027190000/https://www.normativeorders.net/de/presse/medienecho/40-presse/presse-echo/5606-dschihadisten-als-elitetruppe-des-islams-eine-klare-ablehnung-dieser-position-durch-islamische-verbaende-in-deutschland-fehlt-von-susanne-schroeter|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In April 2018, EU anti-terror coordinator estimated there to be 50,000 radicalized Muslims living in Europe.<ref name="ELMUNDO">{{Cite news|url=http://www.elmundo.es/espana/2017/08/31/59a70a48ca4741f7588b45e4.html|title=El coordinador antiterrorista de la UE: "Lo de Barcelona volverá a pasar, hay 50.000 radicales en Europa"|work=ELMUNDO|access-date=9 September 2018|language=es}}</ref>

==== Austria ====
* [[2020 Vienna attack]]

==== Belgium ====
{{See also|Terrorist activity in Belgium#Islamist attacks|Islam in Belgium|Foreign fighters in the Syrian and Iraqi Civil Wars#Belgium}}
{{#section-h:Terrorism in Belgium|Islamic terrorism}}

==== Finland ====
{{Main|Islam in Finland}}
{{#section-h:Islam in Finland|Terrorism and radicalisation}}

==== France ====
{{See also|November 2015 Paris attacks|Terrorism in France|Islam in France}}
France had its first occurrences with religious extremism in the 1980s due to French involvement in the [[Lebanese Civil War]]. In the 1990s, a series of attacks on French soil were executed by the [[Armed Islamic Group of Algeria]] (GIA).

In the 1990–2010 time span, France experienced repeated attacks linked to international jihadist movements.<ref name="ispi2018">{{Cite book|url=https://www.ispionline.it/sites/default/files/pubblicazioni/mediterraneo_def_web.pdf|title=De-Radicalization in the Mediterranean – Comparing Challenges and Approaches|last=Vidino|display-authors=etal|publisher=ISPI|year=2018|isbn=9788867058198|location=Milano|pages=13–15, 24, 26, 35–36, 42–43, 48, 62–63, 69–70}}</ref> ''[[Le Monde]]'' reported on 26 July 2016 that "Islamist Terrorism" had caused 236 dead in France in the preceding 18-month period.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2016/07/26/le-terrorisme-islamiste-a-fait-236-morts-en-france-en-18-mois_4975000_4355770.html|title=Le terrorisme islamiste a fait 236 morts en France en 18 mois|date=26 July 2016|work=Le Monde|language=fr|quote=De l'attaque de « Charlie Hebdo » et de l'« Hyper casher » en janvier 2015 à la mort du père Jacques Hamel à Saint-Etienne-de-Rouvray, mardi 26 juillet, ce sont 236 personnes qui ont perdu la vie dans des attentats et attaques terroristes|access-date=27 July 2016}}</ref>

In the 2015–2018 timespan in France, 249 people were killed and 928 wounded in a total of 22 terrorist attacks.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/thenational/national-today-newsletter-terrorism-implant-registry-rice-1.4939071|title=By the numbers: France's battle against terror |date=12 December 2018|first=Jonathon |last=Gatehouse |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404210321/https://www.cbc.ca/news/thenational/national-today-newsletter-terrorism-implant-registry-rice-1.4939071|archive-date=4 April 2019 |access-date=23 April 2019|quote=22 — the number of terror incidents on French soil since the beginning of 2015. / 249 — the number of dead in those attacks. / 928 — the number of wounded.}}</ref>

The deadly attacks in 2015 in France changed the issue of Islamist radicalization from a security threat to also constitute a social problem. Prime minister [[François Hollande]] and prime minister [[Manuel Valls]] saw the fundamental values of the French republic being challenged and called them attacks against secular, enlightenment and democratic values along with "what makes us who we are".<ref name="ispi2018" />

Although jihadists in the 2015-onward timeframe legitimized their attacks with a narrative of reprisal for France's participation in the international coalition fighting the Islamic State, Islamic terrorism in France has other, deeper and older causes. The main reasons France suffers frequent attacks are, in no particular order:<ref name="FranceThreat">{{Cite web|url=https://english.aivd.nl/publications/publications/2017/12/14/publication-jihadist-women-a-threat-not-to-be-underestimated|title=Jihadist women, a threat not to be underestimated – Publication – pdf|last=Koninkrijksrelaties|first=Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en|date=14 December 2017|publisher=[[AIVD]]|page=5|language=en-GB|access-date=1 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201181028/https://english.aivd.nl/publications/publications/2017/12/14/publication-jihadist-women-a-threat-not-to-be-underestimated|archive-date=1 December 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

* France's secular domestic policies (''[[Laïcité]]'') which jihadists perceive to be hostile towards Islam. Also, France's status as an officially secular nation and jihadists label France as "the flagship of disbelief".<ref name="FranceThreat" />
*France has a strong cultural tradition in comics, which in the context of Muhammad cartoons is a question of freedom of expression.<ref name="expressen20201104">{{cite web|title=Därför är Frankrike så hårt terrordrabbat|url=https://www.expressen.se/nyheter/darfor-ar-frankrike-sa-hart-terrordrabbat/|access-date=4 November 2020|website=Expressen|date=3 November 2020 |language=sv}}</ref>
*France has a large Muslim minority<ref name="expressen20201104" />
*France's foreign policy towards Muslim countries and jihadist fronts. France is seen as the spearhead directed against jihadist groups in Africa, just as the United States is seen as the main force opposing jihadist groups elsewhere. France's former foreign policies such as that as its colonization of Muslim countries is also brought up in jihadist propaganda, for example, that the influence of French education, culture and political institutions had served to erase the Muslim identity of those colonies and their inhabitants.<ref name=":7h">{{cite journal|last=Bindner|first=Laurence|year=2018|title=Jihadists' Grievance Narratives against France|url=https://icct.nl/publication/jihadists-grievance-narratives-against-france/|journal=Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism Studies|pages=4–8|doi=10.19165/2018.2.01|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* Jihadists consider France as a strong proponent of disbelief. For instance, [[Marianne]], the national emblem of France, is considered as "a false idol" by jihadists and the French to be "idol worshippers". France also has no law against blasphemy and an [[Anti-clericalism|anticlerical]] satirical press which is less respectful towards religion than that of the US or the United Kingdom{{dubious|date=April 2024}}. The French nation state is also perceived as an obstacle towards establishing a caliphate.<ref name=":7h" />
In 2020 two Islamic terrorist attacks were foiled by authorities, bringing the total to 33 since 2017 according to [[Laurent Nuñez]], the director of [[National Centre for Counter Terrorism|CNRLT]], who declared that Sunni Islamist terrorism was a prioritised threat. Nuñez drew parallels between the three attacks of 2020 which all were attacks on "blasphemy and the will to avenge their prophet".<ref>{{cite web|title=Terrorisme: deux attentats islamistes déjoués en 2020, 33 depuis 2017|url=https://www.rtl.fr/actu/justice-faits-divers/terrorisme-deux-attentats-islamistes-dejoues-en-2020-33-depuis-2017-7800949425|access-date=10 January 2021|website=RTL.fr|date=3 January 2021 |language=fr-FR}}</ref>

==== Germany ====
In the 2015–2020 time span, there were 9 [[Islamic terrorism in Europe|Islamic terrorist attacks]] and thwarted terrorist plots where at least one of the perpetrators had entered Germany as an asylum seeker during the [[European migrant crisis]]. The Islamic terrorists entered Germany either without identity documents or with falsified documents. The number of discovered plots began to decline in 2017. In 2020 German authorities noted that the majority of the asylum seekers entered Germany without identification papers during the crisis and security agencies considered unregulated immigration as problematic from a security aspect.<ref>{{cite web|date=20 July 2020|title=Terroristen "kein Massenphänomen" in der Flüchtlingskrise|url=https://www.merkur.de/politik/terroristen-kein-massenphaenomen-in-fluechtlingskrise-zr-13837730.html|access-date=28 July 2020|website=Merkur.de|language=de}}</ref>

==== Italy ====
{{See also|Terrorism in Italy#Islamic terrorism}}
Despite its proximity to the Middle East and North Africa, relatively porous borders, and a large influx of migrants from Muslim majority countries, Italy has not experienced the same surge in radicalization as other European countries. Just 125 individuals with ties to Italy left to join jihadist groups, compared with Belgium's 470 and Sweden's 300 such individuals in the same period from their much smaller populations. Since the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001, there have been a small number of plots either thwarted or failed. Two individuals born in Italy have been involved in terrorist attacks, Youssef Zaghba one of the trio of attackers in the June [[2017 London Bridge attack]] while ISIS sympathizer Tomasso Hosni attacked soldiers at [[Milano Centrale railway station|Milan's Central station]] in May 2017.<ref name="ispi2018" />

Deportation (expulsion) of suspects who are foreign nationals has been the cornerstone of Italy's preventive counter-terrorism strategy against jihadists.<ref name=":2">{{cite web|url=https://www.ispionline.it/en/pubblicazione/measure-expulsions-extremism-21804|title=The measure of expulsions for extremism|last=ispisito|date=14 December 2018|website=ISPI|language=en|access-date=21 December 2018}}</ref> Deportees are prohibited from re-entering Italy and the entire Schengen Area for at least five years. This measure is particularly effective because in Italy, unlike in other Western European countries, many radicalized Muslims are first-generation immigrants without [[Italian nationality law|Italian citizenship]]. As elsewhere in Europe, prison inmates show signs of radicalization while incarcerated. In 2018, 41 individuals were deported upon release.<ref name=":2" /> Of the 147 people deported from 2015 to 2017, all were related to Islamist radicalization and 12 were imams.<ref name=":3">{{cite journal|last=Marone|first=Francesco|date=13 March 2017|title=The Use of Deportation in Counter-Terrorism: Insights from the Italian Case|website=International Center for Counter-Terrorism|url=https://icct.nl/publication/the-use-of-deportation-in-counter-terrorism-insights-from-the-italian-case/|language=en-US|access-date=21 December 2018|archive-date=21 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181221134649/https://icct.nl/publication/the-use-of-deportation-in-counter-terrorism-insights-from-the-italian-case/|url-status=dead}}</ref> From January 2015 to April 2018, 300 individuals were expelled from Italian soil.<ref name="ispi2018" /> The vast majority of the deportees come from [[North Africa]], with most of the deportees come from [[Moroccans in Italy|Morocco]], [[Tunisian people in Italy|Tunisia]] and [[Egyptians in Italy|Egypt]]. A noted group came from [[Balkans|the Balkans]], with 13 individuals from Albania, 14 from Kosovo and 12 from Macedonia. A smaller group were from Asia, with [[Pakistanis in Italy|Pakistanis]] constituting the largest group.<ref name=":3" />

==== Netherlands ====
{{Main|List of terrorist incidents in the Netherlands|Islam in the Netherlands}}
{{#section-h:Islam in the Netherlands|Jihadists}}

===== Attacks in the Netherlands =====
* [[Theo van Gogh (film director)|'''Murder of Theo van Gogh''']] on 2 November 2004. Dutch filmmaker and political activist Theo van Gogh was assassinated by [[Mohammed Bouyeri]], a second-generation Moroccan-Dutchman, [[Islamist]] and member of the [[Hofstad Network]].{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
* '''[[2018 Amsterdam stabbing attack]]''': On 31 August 2018, a man randomly attacked two people in [[Amsterdam Centraal station]] with a blade weapon – both victims were American-[[Demographics of Eritrea|Eritrean]] tourists who were injured.<ref>{{cite news|last=Rosman|first=Cyril|date=11 December 2018|title=Toestand van slachtoffer 'terreursteker' Amsterdam CS is 'catastrofaal'|language=nl|newspaper=[[Algemeen Dagblad]]|url=https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/toestand-van-slachtof-fer-terreur-ste-ker-amsterdam-cs-is-catastrofaal~a2a13314/|access-date=13 November 2019}}</ref> The attacker was a 19-year-old [[Afghans in the Netherlands|from Afghanistan]] under the name Jawad S. who held a German [[residency permit]] and was denied asylum there.<ref>{{cite web|title=Knivman i Amsterdam ville hämnas skymfandet av islam|url=https://svenska.yle.fi/artikel/2018/09/03/knivman-i-amsterdam-ville-hamnas-skymfandet-av-islam|access-date=19 January 2019|website=svenska.yle.fi|language=sv-FI}}</ref> The suspect was aggrieved at the Netherlands for [[Blasphemy and Islam|insulting Islam]], directly referring to politician [[Geert Wilders]].<ref>{{cite news|date=5 September 2018|title=Jihadist knifeman shot in nine seconds|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45419445|access-date=7 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Suspect in stabbing|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2018-09-03/suspect-in-stabbing-of-americans-believes-dutch-insult-islam|website=usnews.com}}</ref>
* '''[[Utrecht tram shooting]]''': On 18 March 2019, Gökmen Tanis carried out a shooting attack against tram passengers in Utrecht, killing four civilians and wounding six others. Tanis was arrested and convicted of murder with terrorist intent and sentenced to life in prison. He expressed support for Islamic extremism.<ref name="life imprisonment">{{Cite news|date=20 March 2020|title=Gökmen T. krijgt levenslang voor aanslag in Utrechtse tram|language=nl-NL|work=nu.nl|url=https://www.nu.nl/schietpartij-utrecht/6039024/gokmen-t-krijgt-levenslang-voor-aanslag-in-utrechtse-tram.html|access-date=20 March 2020}}</ref>

==== Norway ====
In 2012, two men were sentenced in Oslo to seven and a half years in jail for an attack against Mohammad-cartoonist [[Kurt Westergaard]]. This was the first sentence under the new anti-terror legislation. A third man was freed from the accusation of terrorism, but was sentenced for helping with explosives and he received a fourth-month prison sentence.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/terror-prozess-in-oslo-haftstrafen-fuer-geplanten-mord-an-mohammed-zeichner-a-812250.html|title=Terror-Prozess in Oslo: Haftstrafen für geplanten Mord an Mohammed-Zeichner|date=30 January 2012|work=Der Spiegel|access-date=9 September 2018}}</ref>

==== Poland ====
In 2015, the terrorist threat level was zero, on its scale which has four levels plus the "zero level". About 20–40 Polish nationals had [[Foreign fighters in the Syrian and Iraqi Civil Wars|travelled to the conflict zone in Syria-Iraq]].<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1 April 2016|title= The Foreign Fighters Phenomenon in the European Union. Profiles, Threats & Policies|url=https://icct.nl/publication/report-the-foreign-fighters-phenomenon-in-the-eu-profiles-threats-policies/|journal= Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism Studies|language=en-US|pages=46|doi=10.19165/2016.1.02|last1=Van Ginkel|first1=Bibi|last2=Boutin|first2=Bérénice|last3=Chauzal|first3=Grégory|last4=Dorsey|first4=Jessica|last5=Jegerings|first5=Marjolein|last6=Paulussen|first6=Christophe|last7=Pohl|first7=Johanna|last8=Reed|first8=Alastair|last9=Zavagli|first9=Sofia|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==== Russia ====
[[File:Beslan school no 1 victim photos.jpg|thumb|[[Beslan school siege|Beslan school]] victim photos]]
Politically and religiously motivated attacks on civilians in Russia have been traced to separatist sentiment among the largely Muslim population of its [[North Caucasus]] region, particularly in [[Chechnya]], where the central government of the Russian Federation has waged two bloody wars against the local [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria|secular separatist government]] since 1994. In the [[Moscow theater hostage crisis]] in October 2002, three Chechen separatist groups took an estimated 850 people hostage in the Russian capital; at least 129 hostages died during the storming by Russian special forces, all but one killed by the chemicals used to subdue the attackers (whether this attack would more properly be called a [[nationalism|nationalist]] rather than an Islamist attack is in question). In the September 2004 [[Beslan school hostage crisis]] more than 1,000 people were taken hostage after a school in the [[Republics of Russia|Russian republic]] of [[North Ossetia–Alania]] was seized by a pro-Chechen multi-ethnic group aligned to [[Riyad-us Saliheen Brigade of Martyrs]]; hundreds of people died during the storming by Russian forces.<ref>''Foreign Affairs'', January/February 2008, p. 74, "The Myth of the Authoritarian Model"</ref>

Since 2000, Russia has also experienced [[Suicide attacks in the North Caucasus conflict|a string of suicide bombings]] that killed hundreds of people in the Caucasian republics of Chechnya, [[Dagestan]] and [[Ingushetia]], as well as in Russia proper including Moscow. Responsibility for most of these attacks was claimed by either [[Shamil Basayev]]'s Islamic-nationalist rebel faction or, later, by [[Dokka Umarov]]'s pan-Islamist movement [[Caucasus Emirate]] which is aiming to unite most of Russia's North Caucasus as an [[emirate]] since its creation in 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/40b2b7e8-3e84-11df-a706-00144feabdc0.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/40b2b7e8-3e84-11df-a706-00144feabdc0.html |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription|title=Changing face of terror in Russia|work=Financial Times|access-date=7 January 2015}}</ref> Since the creation of the Caucasus Emirate, the group has abandoned its secular nationalist goals and fully adopted the ideology of Salafist-takfiri Jihadism<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 September 2014 |title=Salafist-Takfiri Jihadism: the Ideology of the Caucasus Emirate |url=http://www.ict.org.il/Article/132/Salafist-Takfiri%20Jihadism%20the%20Ideology%20of%20the%20Caucasus%20Emirate |access-date=11 February 2022 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903083632/http://www.ict.org.il/Article/132/Salafist-Takfiri%20Jihadism%20the%20Ideology%20of%20the%20Caucasus%20Emirate |archive-date=3 September 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> which seeks to advance the cause of Allah on the earth by waging war against the Russian government and non-Muslims in the North Caucasus, such as the local [[Sufi]] Muslim population, whom they view as [[mushrikeen]] (polytheists) who do not adhere to true Islamic teachings. In 2011, the U.S. Department of State included the Caucasus Emirate on its list of terrorist organisations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/05/164312.htm|title=Designation of Caucasus Emirate|work=U.S. Department of State|access-date=7 January 2015}}</ref>

==== Spain ====
{{Main|Terrorism in Spain|Islam in Spain}}
{{#section-h:Terrorism in Spain|Islamic terrorism}}

==== Sweden ====
{{Main|Terrorism in Sweden}}
{{#section-h:Terrorism in Sweden|Islamic terrorism}}

===== Islamic terror attacks in Sweden =====
In 2010, Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, an [[Swedish Iraqis|Iraqi-born Swedish]] citizen, attempted to kill Christmas shoppers in Stockholm in the [[2010 Stockholm bombings]]. According to investigations by [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], the bombing would likely have killed between 30 and 40 people had it succeeded, and it is thought that al-Abdaly operated with a network.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.svd.se/bomben-skulle-ha-dodat-40-personer|title=Bomben skulle ha dödat 40 personer|date=5 December 2011|work=Svenska Dagbladet|language=sv}}</ref>

In April 2017 Rakhmat Akilov, a 39-year-old rejected [[asylum seeker]] born in the [[Soviet Union]] and a citizen of [[Uzbekistan]], drove a truck down a pedestrian area in Stockholm and killed five people and injured dozens of others in the [[2017 Stockholm truck attack]]. He has expressed sympathy with extremist organizations, among them the [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]] (ISIL).<ref name=":02">[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sweden-attack-idUSKBN17B089 "Uzbek suspect in Swedish attack sympathized with Islamic State: police"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170520192306/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sweden-attack-idUSKBN17B089|date=20 May 2017}}. [[Reuters]]. 10 April 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2017.</ref>

==== Balkans ====
{{Main|Terrorism in the Balkans}}