‘Islamists planning attack in West have left Syria’

Published July 26, 2014
(L-R) Anders Anundsen, Norway's minister of justice and public security, Benedicte Bjoernland, head of the Police Security Service, PST, and Vidar Refvik, head of the police force, hold a news conference in Oslo July 24, 2014.—Reuters photo
(L-R) Anders Anundsen, Norway's minister of justice and public security, Benedicte Bjoernland, head of the Police Security Service, PST, and Vidar Refvik, head of the police force, hold a news conference in Oslo July 24, 2014.—Reuters photo

OSLO: A group of militant Islamists planning to carry out attacks in the West is on its way from Syria, possibly heading towards Norway, police said on Friday.

Norwegian armed police were deployed for a second day at high-risk locations including airports and train stations, after the police’s intelligence unit said on Thursday it received credible information that an attack might take place in the country in coming days.

“We have received information that a group of fighters have left Syria with the aim of carrying out terror attack in the West, and Norway was specifically mentioned among their targets,” Jon Fitje Hoffmann, the chief analyst for the Police Security Service told TV2 in an interview on Friday.

A small group of Norway-based militants who have gained combat experience in conflicts around the globe have become the biggest threat to the Nordic nation and up to 50 have travelled to Syria in recent years, police said earlier.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2014

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