A small detail in EuroPol’s report “European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2014” underlines the cowardice of the EU and the UK when it comes to confronting Islamic terrorism:
European Union (EU) Member States reported no terrorist attacks specifically classified as religiously inspired terrorism for the 2013 period. However, in at least two attacks, the role of religious radicalisation appears to be evident. On 22 May 2013, an off-duty British army soldier was murdered in the vicinity of army barracks in Woolwich, London (UK). The attackers initially used a car to run him over, before repeatedly stabbing him with bladed weapons. The two suspects – British Muslim converts of Nigerian descent – were arrested at the scene. Further arrests of their associates were made from May onwards. The assailants were self-organised but previously had links to radical Muslim groups in the UK (al-Muhajiroun and its later incarnation, the Sharia4 movement).16 One of the suspects was also believed to have attempted to travel to Somalia in the past in order to join Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahidin (HSM, Young Mujahidin Movement). Both attackers were convicted of the murder in December 2013.
On 25 May 2013, just three days after the aforementioned attack, a French soldier was targeted in a non-fatal knife attack in La Défense near Paris (France) by an individual who converted to Islam and radicalised in an extremely short period of time.