Europol: When violence shapes identities in a larger pool of perpetrators


The latest EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (EU TE-SAT) reveals how online ecosystems are reshaping terrorism. Traditional ideology-driven terrorism dominates the landscape, with jihadism being the most widespread form. However, for a significant number of perpetrators, violence has become a means of gaining identity, recognition, and belonging. This development has created a more fragmented, complex and less predictable threat across Europe.

Terrorism in Europe is entering a new phase. The latest European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (EU TE-SAT) 2026, published today, shows how online ecosystems are fundamentally reshaping the way terrorist threats emerge, evolve online and materialise offline. Traditional ideology-driven terrorism is reported as remaining persistent, with jihadism being the most prevalent form. However, while radicalisation no longer depends solely on direct contact with established terrorist organisations, violent actors increasingly combine extremist ideologies with criminality, conspiracy narratives and nihilistic violence.

Read more…
Source: Europol


Sign up for the Counter-IED Report Newsletters
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • Ireland: Plan to jam bomb phone signals met with resistance

    December 28, 2025

    Irish phone companies were “unwilling” to take part in an early 2000s scheme to temporarily block networks in a bid to prevent bombs being set off in Northern Ireland, according to previously confidential documents. Authorities in Northern Ireland and the UK had been engaging with the Republic of Ireland about the possible implementation of a plan ...

  • IAEA: Ukraine and Russia announce temporary ceasefire on territory of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

    December 28, 2025

    Repair works have begun on a power transmission line near the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) following another local ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, achieved with the mediation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). According to IAE: “Critically important repair works on a power transmission line have started near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia NPP following another ...

  • Netherlands: Resident arrested after explosive material found in Lichtenvoorde

    December 27, 2025

    Authorities evacuated around fifty homes Friday afternoon after explosive material was discovered in a Lichtenvoorde residence. Police also arrested a resident of the property. The discovery triggered an immediate response from local police, the fire department, and the Explosieven Opruimingsdienst Defensie (EOD), the Dutch military’s bomb disposal unit. The EOD later detonated the explosives outside Lichtenvoorde, ...

  • Türkiye thwarts Daesh plot targeting Christmas events in sweeping raids

    December 26, 2025

    Turkish police detained 115 suspects in coordinated counter-terrorism raids linked to a Daesh plot targeting Christmas and New Year events, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said on Wednesday. In a statement shared on X, the Office said operations were launched following intelligence that terrorists were planning to make calls for action and carry out ...

  • Cyprus: Homemade explosive damages referee’s home in Limassol

    December 25, 2025

    The home of a 36-year-old football referee in Limassol was targeted in a criminal attack late on Wednesday night, police said. According to the police, the explosion occurred at around 10.25pm, prompting officers to rush to the scene and cordon off the area. Initial investigations showed that the blast was caused by a low-powered improvised explosive ...

  • Greece: Powerful explosion hits bank branch in Thessaloniki on Christmas morning

    December 25, 2025

    A powerful explosion rocked a residential area of Thessaloniki early on Christmas morning, damaging a bank and nearby buildings. According to Greek authorities, there were no injuries reported. The explosion occurred at around 3:20 AM local time outside a bank branch in the Evosmos district, shattering windows, damaging parked vehicles, and causing structural harm to surrounding ...

  • Russia: Two traffic police officers killed in explosion in southern Moscow

    December 24, 2025

    Two policemen died in an explosion while detaining a suspicious person in southern Moscow, the suspect is also dead, the press service of the Russian Investigative Committee reported. TASS has compiled the main information about the incident. According to the investigators, in the early morning hours of December 24, two traffic police officers saw a suspicious ...

  • Estonia: Man arrested after deliberate explosion at Tallinn’s Ülemiste Centre

    December 22, 2025

    A 60-year-old man has been arrested in connection with Saturday’s explosion at Ülemiste Centre, Estonia’s largest shopping centre, which injured one person and prompted the evacuation of shoppers and staff. State Prosecutor General Astrid Asi said the suspect, a Tallinn resident who is not an Estonian citizen, was detained on suspicion of deliberately causing the explosion ...

  • Russia: Senior Russian general killed in bomb blast in Moscow

    December 22, 2025

    The head of the Operational Training Directorate at the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, was killed in an explosion in southern Moscow on Monday morning, Russian Investigative Committee Spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told TASS. “According to an investigation, on the morning of December 22, an explosive device planted under a ...

  • Netherlands: 1,356 explosion attacks recorded this year, near last year’s total

    December 20, 2025

    The number of explosion attacks in the Netherlands remains exceptionally high this year, with police reporting 1,356 incidents so far—nearly matching the total for all of 2024, when 1,543 attacks were recorded. Authorities say the figures point to a sustained national trend rather than a decline. The latest figures come from the Offensief Tegen Explosies, a ...

  • Mince pies and brews: Defence Secretary thanks troops working over Christmas

    December 19, 2025

    Defence Secretary John Healey travelled to Merville Barracks in Colchester to visit troops who will be on duty over Christmas. Mr Healey spoke to soldiers from 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Search Regiment. The Defence Secretary got a demonstration of their kit, and he also asked them about their individual roles and what life is ...

  • UK: Explosive device found on Ynyslas beach is detonated

    December 19, 2025

    Experts were called in after an explosive device was discovered on a Mid Wales beach. The Explosive Ordance Disposal (EOD) unit were called in after reports of a potential device were discovered on Ynyslas beach on Wednesday (December 17) morning. HM Coastguard Borth attended the initial callout, along with colleagues from Aberystwyth, before returning yesterday morning ...

  • Northern Ireland: Co Down man denied bail as court hears details of cross-border terror plot to attack mosque

    December 18, 2025

    A man in Northern Ireland charged with terror offences linked to a cross-border police investigation into a planned attack on a Galway mosque has been denied bail. Connor Pollock, 38, from Croob Park, in Ballynahinch, Co Down, appeared via videolink from HMP Maghaberry for a bail hearing at the Downpatrick Magistrates’ Court on Thursday. Pollock is ...

  • Ukraine Claims World’s First Underwater Drone Attack On Russian Submarine

    December 15, 2025

    Ukraine’s state security service (SBU) said it carried out the first-ever uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) attack on a Russian vessel. The strike was on a Project 636 Varshavyanka class, or Improved Kilo class diesel-electric submarine, in the Black Sea naval stronghold of Novorossiysk. It would mark a historic first successful use of a UUV as ...

  • Ukraine: Fatal Explosion in Kharkiv Region Highlights Ongoing Danger of Unexploded Ordnance

    December 14, 2025

    On December 14, the State Emergency Service reported a tragic incident in Kharkiv region: a resident of the Kupianskyi district died after an explosion of an explosive device. The incident occurred on the territory of the Shevchenkivska community, in the village of Myrne; a local resident, a man born in 1950, died in the woodland ...