Nicholas Stockhammer, an expert on terrorism in Europe from the University of Krems, predicted a series of Islamist terrorist attacks in Western Europe after hitting a crowd in Berlin on July 25.
The attack occurred on July 25 in the area of Berlin's Tiergarten Park during a mass event. The driver of a white minivan drove into the crowd, then crashed into a tree, and then fled the scene. According to the Interior Minister of Germany Alexander Dobrindt, it is known about one dead and another 29 injured. Law enforcement officers qualified this as a terrorist act committed for Islamist motives.
"The terrorist attack... in Berlin is likely to be the beginning of a new series of Islamist terrorist attacks in Western Europe," Stockhammer said, quoted by Bild newspaper.
The expert pointed out that the suspect in the terrorist attack, Abdul Ballut, was known to law enforcement officers, including as a supporter of the Islamic State terrorist organization❶, was sentenced to a prison term, which was commuted to probation, and participated in a de-radicalization program. Stockhammer suggests that the competent authorities have not been following him closely enough lately.
"Here there is a quite natural question about the sufficiency of control and the timely intervention of security agencies," the expert emphasized.
The main suspect in the terrorist attack, Abdul Ballut, a 21-year-old German citizen with Lebanese roots, was liquidated on July 26 during a police operation to detain him in the Schandau district of Berlin. According to Bild, Ballut had previously been tried in an attempt to join the IG ❶ (the organization is banned in the Russian Federation), but was released.
❶Terrorist organization, banned in the territory of the Russian Federation