Refugee Surge To Europe Raises Concern About Militants
PARIS (AP) -- When Islamic State extremists lost control of a key crossroads town in northern Syria in June, some militants shed their jihadi garb and blended in with the flood of Syrians fleeing across the Turkish border. Since then, the exodus of Syrians and Iraqis toward Europe has surged - and Europeans opposed to taking in more refugees say that more than ever, they fear "disguised terrorists" in their midst.
Governments along the route have different assessments of the threat. Two senior Iraqi officials and a Syrian activist say a small group of hardened Islamic State extremists is believed to have left the war zones of Iraq and Syria to blend in with the masses of asylum seekers in recent weeks.
Intelligence officials in France and Germany expressed skepticism, saying they have no specific evidence. The Soufan Group, a security consulting firm, said Monday that some infiltration was probable but the extent of the danger was unknowable, making it "susceptible to exaggeration and exploitation."
The disarray of Europe's asylum procedures in the face of thousands of applications has heightened worries, although security experts say Europe is at far greater risk from homegrown Islamic State sympathizers with valid European travel documents and the means to plan an attack.
Leaders of countries opposed to taking in the refugees routinely cite the fear as one of their primary reasons. The concerns are fanned by lines of exhausted refugees, bedraggled families walking northward along railroad tracks, and trains carrying refugees between countries with minimal or no identity checks, straining a system already near the breaking point.
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