According to the tabloid newspaper Ekstra Bladet, the jihadist organisation Islamic State (IS) has established a faction in Denmark dedicated to recruiting volunteers to fight for their cause in Iraq and Syria.
While Ekstra Bladet’s sources revealed that IS sympathisers met at a conference in Vejle, Jutland during the summer to discuss its strategies, the Danish intelligence agency PET wouldn’t comment on the issue,
“We can’t comment on information pertaining to IS or any other radical Islamic group organising in Denmark,” a PET press worker told TV2.
The supposed IS group in Denmark allegedly consists of former volunteer fighters in Syria and prominent members of the radical Islamic environment in Denmark.
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IS strategy
Organising in Europe is part of the IS strategy, according to Lorenzo Vidino, a terror expert from the Center for Security Studies at Zürich Technical University.
”Many nations’ intelligence agencies have confirmed that IS is specifically sending people back to Europe to perform tasks,” Vidino told Ekstra Bladet.
“IS is the largest terror threat according to US and European intel, and it will only increase now that western nations – Denmark included – have started getting involved in the conflict.”
PET has previously estimated that at least ten Danes – several having been killed – have travelled to Syria and Iraq to take part in the IS struggle in the region.