EU police: religious extremism still top security threat

BRUSSELS – A top European Union police official says that despite extensive government action, violent religious-driven extremism remains the “top threat to the security” of the 28-nation bloc and its half billion citizens.

Manuel Navarrete Paniagua, head of the Europol police’s agency’s Counter Terrorism Center, spoke Monday to the Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament.

He said EU member states classify “jihadi” extremists inspired by a radical Muslim vision of holy war as their main security concern.

Navarrette said those individuals include Europe’s so-called foreign fighters recruited to join the ranks of the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.

In 2015, the Europol official said, the extremists increased their use of anonymity and encryption on the Internet to hide their location, plans and operations.