Lorenzo Vidino in the Counterterrorism Blog reports on a Spanish news story:
Today the Spanish newspaper El Periodico published an interesting report based on extensive interviews with Spanish counterterrorism officials. According to the report, each month an average of 3 Spanish Muslims are recruited by jihadi networks either for suicide bombings in Iraq or for training in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Yemen and Somalia….
What has changed over the last few months is the profile of the average recruits. While in the past they were mostly recent immigrants to Spain (immigration is indeed a recent phenomenon to Spain, having started on a large scale only in the early 1990s, coinciding with the economic boom), today’s recruits tend to be mostly second-generation immigrants (mainly of Moroccan descent) and as young as 13. This confirms the trend seen in most European countries, where, unlike 5 years ago, the majority of individuals involved in jihadist activities are European-born.