Increasing Threat of Extreme Islamism – NRK Norway – Summary of news from different parts of the country

The police security service maintains the current level to assess the general terrorist threat against Norway, ie “moderate”.

At the same time, PST says it doesn’t take much to pose the terrorist threat. The background is a sharpening in which the PST assesses the threat from extreme Islamists.

– We still consider it POSSIBLE for someone to try to carry out terrorist acts in Norway, motivated by religious or Islamist motives.

– However, the terrorist threat from extreme Islamism has intensified since the last assessment by the PST this summer. It won’t take long before the expected threat assessment is changed to PROBABLE, indicated in the updated threat assessment.

Rapes are the main driver

A moderate level of threat at the national level means that one or more actors may have the capacity and the will to carry out terrorism in Norway. This is the third of the five-level scale.

The background for the sharpening is Thursday’s attack on a church in Nice, southern France.

The development in France with the reissue of the Muhammad cartoons, the subsequent terrorist acts and the debate this creates in Norway, may also help inspire people in this country to terrorism, believes PST.

– The most important reason for the tightening is the tension we see between freedom of expression and what many Muslims experience as violations of Islam. Violations of Islam are the main driver of radicalization towards extreme Islamism and terrorism, the head of the anti-terrorism section in the PST, Arne Christian Haugstøyl, tells NRK.

– Contribute to making Norway more visible

Haugestøyl adds that the terrorist organizations Al Qaeda and the Islamic State have called on their members to avenge violations of Islam. He points out that the general level of tension in other parts of Norway also extends to Norway.

– How is Norway in the picture here?

– We have environments that some Muslims experience as violators of Islam. This helps make Norway more visible in the image of the enemy of extreme Islamists, says Haugstøyl.

In the updated threat assessment, PST assumes that some actors will continue to carry out what are perceived as violations.

Warn against fake news

Various actors on social media also give false news about alleged acts of violation of Islam in Norway.

If it is difficult for recipients to distinguish between fake and real news, this can help reinforce the image that Norway is a country where Islam is violated, believes PST.

– There is also a lot of propaganda portraying Norway as more active in these violations than there are reasons for it, says Haugstøyl.

At the same time, the PST notes that it can take years or months for perceived violations of Islam to lead to terrorist-related acts or extreme environments to emerge.

Can be done by person

Three people were killed in Thursday’s attack in Nice. The perpetrator was a 21-year-old Tunisian, who is said to have shouted “Allahu akbar” (“Allah is the greatest”, journal. Note) throughout the attack.

One of the victims, a 60-year-old woman, had her head cut off. French prosecutors say the attack is being investigated as a terrorist attack.

In the updated threat assessment, PST writes that a possible attack motivated by extreme Islamism will be carried out by a person attacking public gatherings or symbolic targets. Symbolic targets include police and defense personnel, critics of Islam, and people who defend freedom of expression.

An attack is likely to involve stabbing or stabbing weapons. The impeded attempts in the West show that extremist Islamists have also tried to use improvised explosive devices and firearms.

The Norwegian Police Directorate (POD) states that they are in dialogue with the PST and police districts to assess the importance of the updated PST threat assessment for Norwegian conditions.

POD’s director of emergency preparedness, Tone Vangen, notes that there are no specific threats to Norway.

– But incidents like the ones we have seen in recent days are a reminder that we must always bear in mind that unwanted incidents can occur, Vangen says in a press release.

Warns against recruiting for right-wing extremism

The PST also warns against further radicalization of right-wing extremism based on recent events.

“The background to the assessment is that the struggles of right-wing extremists will continue to have a strong appeal. This especially applies to opposition to the Islam religion, Muslims and other non-Western immigrants,” writes PST.

It is also noted that right-wing extremist propaganda glorifying violence is shared on a large scale online.

“In addition, there are many indications that the Covid-19 pandemic leads to greater isolation and longer time on the Internet, which is sometimes associated with vulnerability to radicalization,” PST writes.

PST estimated in 2018 that extreme Islamism constitutes the biggest terrorist threat against Norway. This continued until 2019. In February this year, when the PST released its annual open threat assessment, the PST for the first time equated the threat of right-wing extremists and extreme Islamists. This summer, PST released an update, with a special focus on celebrating Muslim identification.