Finland’s security agency raises country’s threat assessment

TALLINN, Estonia – Finland’s security agency says it has raised its threat assessment to the second level of a four-level scale.

The Finnish Security Intelligence Service says the country’s “stronger profile within the radical Islamist propaganda” led to the change. It said on Wednesday that the Nordic country is now considered part of the coalition against the Islamic State group.

The interior ministry has estimated that at least 80 fighters have travelled from Finland to fight alongside extremist groups in Syria and Iraq.

Finland’s previous threat assessment was in November 2015. Unlike its Nordic neighbours, the country has not been targeted by radical Islamists in recent years.