France Investigation

The threat from Islamic State's 'fifth column' in Europe

Jihadi veterans have been seeking to cause disarray among European intelligence agencies with hoax attacks that distract from real ones and attempts to infiltrate public agencies and companies. As a result security official are having huge difficulties in trying to measure the true scale of the terrorist threat that faces us. In the last of this lengthy series of investigations on Islamic State's intelligence operations, Matthieu Suc reports on the dangers still posed by jihadist agents operating within Europe despite Islamic State's major reverses in Iraq and Syria.

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The body was that of a male terrorist aged 28. “Very olive skin” with “dark brown hair” and “closely cut brown moustache and beard”, notes the report. Inside the autopsy room of the forensic mortuary at the Institut Médico-Légal (IML) in Paris's 12th arrondissement (district), a gendarme, two medical examiners, a police forensics officer and a police photographer are standing around the body which is lying on a trolley. It is 8.40am on Friday 20th 2015, and Dr Antoine T. is starting the post-mortem examination.

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#FREEMORTAZA

Since January 7, 2023 our colleague and friend Mortaza Behboudi has been imprisoned in Afghanistan, in the Taliban prisons.

We do not forget him and call for his release.

Learn more about #FREEMORTAZA

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#FREEMORTAZA

Since January 7, 2023 our colleague and friend Mortaza Behboudi has been imprisoned in Afghanistan, in the Taliban prisons.

We do not forget him and call for his release.

Learn more about #FREEMORTAZA