The threat of an attack by Islamist militants in Europe is "real" and EU countries must all remain mobilised to counter it, France's interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve warned today.
His remarks came amid signs that the number of jihadists leaving Europe to fight in Iraq and Syria continued to increase, raising concerns that some will return to their home countries battle hardened and ready to carry out attacks.
"There are risks which are real today and which require a general mobilisation," Cazeneuve said after a meeting of EU interior ministers in Brussels to discuss the threat posed by foreign fighters.
A European official presented the threat in even starker terms, telling AFP on condition of anonymity that "an attack on European territory is very likely."
Another European source added: "The motives to join the jihad will continue as long as the conflict in Syria and Iraq lasts."
Cazeneuve said that in France the number of people involved in the jihadist network has jumped by 89 per cent since the beginning of the year.
Some 1,150 French citizens are part of the network, including 300 to 350 on the ground, more than 50 who have died and some 200 who have returned to France. The remainder of the network involves recruiters and supporters.
The Europe Union's counter-terrorism chief Gilles de Kerchove said the number of Europeans joining Islamist fighters in Syria and Iraq is around 3,000.
De Kerchove said security officials fear not so much a large-scale, coordinated attack like that of September 11, 2001 in the United States, but something more like the one at the Jewish museum in Brussels that killed four people in May.
"Each country works on foiling attacks on its territory," Cazeneuve said.
"We do it in France. There are operations, arrests ...Every day to avoid it happening," he said.
"I'm used to saying that zero precautions amount to 100 per cent risk, but 100 per cent precautions do not reduce the risk to zero."
The French parliament last month adopted a counter-terrorism law which bans people from leaving the country if they are suspected of trying to wage jihad in Syria.
