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TERROR WARS
France, India to strengthen counter-terror cooperation
By Sabine WIBAUX
New Delhi (AFP) Jan 25, 2016


IS planning for 'large-scale' attacks on Europe: Europol
Amsterdam (AFP) Jan 25, 2016 - The Islamic State group has honed the ability to launch global attacks and is set to focus more on Europe following the Paris massacre, the chief of the EU police agency Europol said Monday.

Rob Wainwright told a news conference that "the so-called Islamic State had developed a new combat style capability to carry out a campaign of large-scale terrorist attacks on a global stage -- with a particular focus in Europe."

"So-called Islamic State has a willingness and a capability to carry out further attacks in Europe, and of course all national authorities are working to prevent that from happening," he added.

Wainwright was unveiling the findings of a new Europol report on changes in how the jihadist group operates, coinciding with the launch of the agency's new counterterrorism centre in The Hague.

IS claimed responsibility for the November 13 Paris attacks in which 130 people were killed, releasing a video on Sunday purporting to show nine of the jihadists in which they threaten "coalition countries" including Britain.

A US-led coalition has been fighting IS in Iraq since August 2014, and in Syria since September that year.

"IS is preparing more terrorist attacks, including more 'Mumbai-style' attacks, to be executed in member states of the EU, and in France in particular," the Europol report said.

"The attacks will be primarily directed at soft targets, because of the impact it generates. Both the November Paris attacks and the October 2015 bombing of a Russian airliner suggest a shift in IS strategy towards going global."

IS had developed an "external action command" which was trained for "special forces-style attacks" internationally, the report said.

But the report played down fears that jihadists were smuggling themselves into Europe as part of the huge wave of refugees and migrants that the continent is dealing with, many of whom are fleeing the war in Syria.

"There is no concrete evidence that terrorist travellers systematically use the flow of refugees to enter Europe unnoticed," it said.

It warned however that many new arrivals were vulnerable to radicalisation or recruitment, with evidence that extremist recruiters were specifically targeting refugee centres.

One of the main tasks of the new Europol counter-terrorism centre was to collect details on the estimated 5,000 Europeans who have gone to fight with IS in Syria and Iraq, Wainwright said.

"We already have details on 3,700 fighters actively engaged in the conflict zone but that's not the full picture and it's something we will be addressing through priority work of the new centre," it said.

French President Francois Hollande vowed Monday not to weaken his resolve against terrorism as he held talks with India's leader on security cooperation and a long-delayed defence deal.

Hollande said he and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to step up cooperation on counter-terrorism after deadly attacks on Paris in November that recalled the 2008 assault on Mumbai.

But they failed to reach a final agreement on India's long-delayed purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets from the French company Dassault.

The French president said a new video which threatens countries of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group would only strengthen France's resolve, which was tested by November's deadly attacks in Paris.

"These odious provocations only serve to further increase the resolve that we have, that I have, to protect French people through the decisions that I have taken... but also to hit, and hit again, this organisation that threatens us and kills our children," he said.

Hollande made the comments after talks with Modi that focused on security cooperation following the Paris attacks.

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, in the customary Republic Day eve address to the nation, called for a unified global approach to tackle terrorism.

"Nations will never agree on everything; but the challenge today is existential. Terrorists seek to undermine order by rejecting the very basis of strategic stability," Mukherjee said.

"Terrorism is inspired by insane objectives, motivated by bottomless depths of hatred," he added.

Modi had also spoken of his and Hollande's joint resolve to increase security cooperation, recalling a deadly raid earlier this month on an Indian military base near the Pakistan border.

"President Hollande and I have agreed to scale up the range of our counter-terrorism cooperation in a manner that helps us to tangibly mitigate and reduce the threat of extremism and terrorism to our societies," he said.

Modi was speaking alongside the French president, whose visit had raised fresh expectations that the Rafale deal would be finalised after years of tortuous negotiations.

A joint statement said the leaders welcomed the conclusion of an intergovernmental agreement on the purchase, but that "some financial issues" remained outstanding.

A senior French official told reporters on Sunday the two sides were still haggling over the price, which experts say could reach around five billion euros ($5.6 billion).

One sticking point is Delhi's insistence that arms makers invest a percentage of the value of any major deal in India.

Manufacturer Dassault Aviation hailed the accord Monday, saying in a statement it "actively supports the French authorities in finalising a full accord within four weeks".

- Metro ride -

Hollande will be chief guest at Tuesday's Republic Day parade in New Delhi, an invitation Modi extended to show solidarity after the assault on the French capital which killed 130 people.

Earlier, he said the extremist threat weighed as heavily on France as on India, recently hit by the deadly attack on a military base near the border with Pakistan.

The 17-minute video put out by the IS group describes the Paris attackers as "lions" who "brought France to its knees" and urges Muslims in France to rise up against the country's leaders.

It features the heads of Hollande, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and British Prime Minister David Cameron with targets superimposed on them, and purports to show nine jihadists involved in November's slaughter.

"Nothing will deter us, no threat will make France waver in the fight against terrorism," Hollande told reporters.

"These images only serve to discredit the perpetrators of this crime."

Hollande and Modi will sit together at the annual parade, a pomp-filled spectacle of military might which includes columns of Soviet-era tanks.

On Monday the atmosphere was distinctly more down-to-earth as the two leaders took the metro for their journey to the satellite city of Gurgaon.

There, they were set to lay the foundation stone at the new headquarters of the International Solar Alliance, a 121-nation group launched by Modi at the recent Paris climate conference to expand affordable solar power.

Hollande has expressed hope that some of the French businesses travelling with him will be at the forefront of the solar energy push.

The leaders are expected to announce a pact between France's CNES and India's ISRO space agencies for a joint satellite dedicated to climate change research.

bur/bb/fa

DASSAULT AVIATION

MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA

AIRBUS GROUP


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Previous Report
TERROR WARS
Losses in Syria may force some IS leaders to move to Libya: EU official
Brussels (AFP) Jan 21, 2016
Islamic State military losses in Syria and Iraq may prompt some of its leaders to relocate to Libya where they will face less pressure, the EU's counter-terrorism coordinator said Thursday. In an interview with AFP, Gilles de Kerchove also warned that the raids by the US-led coalition and Russian warplanes as well as operations by Iraqi and Syrian ground troops could lead IS to stage more Pa ... read more


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