Terrorist Attacks in Europe in 2016

This is a list of terrorist attacks only. It does not include those attacks that were thwarted by police. Nor does it include the thousands of sexual or child sex attacks that have occurred in Europe this year at the hands of Muslim immigrants. That's a whole 'nuther story which I hope to compile before the end of the year.

Note: all the attacks listed below were committed by Muslims

Firefighter stand beside a truck at a Christmas market in Berlin, Germany, December 19, 2016

after the truck ploughed into the crowded Christmas market in the German capital

© Pawel Kopczynski / Reuters

Monday’s suspected terrorist attack on Berlin’s Christmas market and the assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov, which has been condemned as an act of terrorism, add to the deadly wave of attacks that have rocked Europe this year.

RT takes a look back at the major terrorist incidents which occurred since the November 2015 Paris attacks, which left 130 victims dead, and marked 2016 as another bloody year for Europe.

Brussels bombings, March 22 – 35 killed, including three suicide bombers

Three explosions hit Brussels during the morning rush hour. Two blasts went off in the departure hall of Brussels’ Zaventem Airport while another bomb exploded at the Maalbeek Metro station. Some 300 people were injured. Belgium responded by raising the terrorist threat to the highest level.

Munich stabbing attack,  May 10 – 1 killed

One person was killed and three injured at a train station near Munich when they were attacked by a knife-wielding man, reportedly shouting “Allahu Akbar”. Officials later reported the man has mental health issues and would not stand trial as a result.

French police couple stabbed on June 13 – 3 killed, including the attacker

Two police officers, who were married to each other, were stabbed to death at their home in Magnanville, west of Paris in what French president Francois Hollande described as "unquestionably a terrorist act".

The attacker, Larossi Abballa, pledged allegiance to Islamic State and previously spent time in jail over jihadist links. He was killed by police special forces.

Nice truck terror attack, July 14 – 87 killed, 400+ injured

Eighty-six people were killed and 434 people injured when a truck plowed into a crowd in Nice during Bastille Day celebrations. The Tunisian truck driver was killed by police. It was reported he shouted “Allahu Akbar” before the attack.

President Hollande responded to this by extending the national state of emergency, which had been in place since the Paris attacks.

Ansbach bombing Germany, July 24 – suicide bomber killed, 15 injured

Fifteen people were injured, four seriously, in a suicide bombing outside a wine bar in Ansbach, Germany.

The bomber, identified as Mohammad Daleel, was a 27-year-old Syrian refugee who had pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State.

Normandy church attack, July 26 – 3 killed, including two attackers

An 84-year-old priest was killed in an attack at a church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy. IS later claimed responsibility for the incident.

The priest was among six people taken hostage by the attackers before they were killed by police.

Hamburg stabbing attack, October 16 – 1 killed

A 16-year-old boy was fatally stabbed near the Alster lake bridge in Hamburg. His girlfriend who was thrown into a lake by the assailant swam to safety.

On October 20 IS claimed responsibility for the killing through their news site Amaq however, following an investigation, police later said any links to the extremist group were unlikely.

Wake Up, Europe! Radicalized Muslims Have to be Locked Up or Deported

Baby-faced ISIS jihadi who slit Catholic priest's throat in Normandy church

THIS is the baby-faced terrorist who stormed into a Catholic church in Normandy and slit the throat of a 86-year-old priest in front of his terrified congregation whilst shouting "Allahu Akbar".

By TOM BATCHELOR AND NICK GUTTERIDGE

Two attackers killed a priest with a blade and seriously wounded another hostage.

Weedy Adel Kermiche was shot dead by police marksmen alongside another maniacal Islamist attacker after the pair targeted helpless nuns taking part in an early morning Mass. 

The baby-faced 19-year-old, who lived with his mum just 200 yards from the church in Normandy, was a convicted terrorist who was known to the French authorities and should have been monitored with an electronic tag.

But despite his attempts to travel to Syria to fight for Islamic State (ISIS) he was free to enter the church at just after 9am and brutally murder Father Jacques Hamel in a barbaric attack.

His brother is believed to be a jihadi militant in the Middle East and tonight it emerged how he became radicalised after hero-worshipping the Charlie Hebdo attackers. 

Kermiche was caught attempting to cross the Turkish border into Syria in early 2015 and was deported back to France via Switzerland, where he was electronically tagged and forced to live with his parents. 

At the time his mother - a teacher - told Swiss media that her son had turned to radical Islam after hearing about the Charlie Hebdo massacre, when jihadi gunmen murdered journalists at a French satirical magazine.

She said: "The Charlie Hebdo killing was like a detonator for him".

"From then this happy, kind young man who would go out with friends – closed himself off. He obsessively attended his local mosque.

"It was like he had been brainwashed and bewitched – preaching to his non-practicing family."

Would you believe demon-possessed? Can it be that hard to pick out radicalized Muslims from social media, friends, colleagues, etc.? France, and all of Europe have to make it illegal to be radicalized and keep all such people locked up until they renounce violence and jihad very convincingly.


Kermiche was radicalised after hearing about the Charlie Hebdo attack. The 19-year-old beheaded a priest at a church in Normandy

Kermiche is pictured as a child on his Facebook page wearing an Algeria football hat, but listed himself online as being from Port Louis in Mauritius.

He went to College Paul Eluard in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, just yards away from where he committed today's barbaric attack.

According to French media, Kermiche should have been living with his parents under a court order.

He was allowed out unsupervised between the hours of 8.30am and 12.30pm. Mass at the church started at 9am.

I-tele reported that the teenager, who was shot dead by police during the siege, spent nearly a year in prison before being released on March 2. 


The church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, blocked by police following an attack by two knife-wielding men GETTY


French President Francois Hollande speaking outside Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray's city hall GETTY

French President Francois Hollande has confirmed the attack was carried out by Islamic State sympathisers. Mr Hollande said the two hostage takers were terrorists who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

He said: ”Daesh has declared war on us, we must fight this war by all means, while respecting the rule of law, what makes us a democracy,” using an Arab acronym for the Islamist extremist group.

A statement released by ISIS’ Amaq news agency said two Islamic State “soldiers” carried out the Normandy church attack in France. The statement said: "They carried out the operation in response to the call to target the countries of the crusader coalition.”

The development will pile further pressure on France's security services, which were already facing criticism for their response to (failure to prevent?) the Nice attack which left 84 people dead.

France has been rocked by a wave of terrorist incidents and police and counter-terrorism specialists are scrambling to stop further attacks.

The latest incident has sent sent shock waves through a nation already reeling from deadly massacres including attacks in Paris aimed at rock fans and sports crowds and the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.

    Normandy

Today's Terror Attack in Europe - France, Again

#JeSuisPrêtre: Twitter lights up in prayer for priest murdered in Normandy

Another, in a string of terror attacks in Europe! This is the 6th attack between Germany and France 

in less than two weeks. All of them committed by Muslim men, at least half by migrants.

Welcome to the new Europe, enriched by embracing the Religion of Peace.

This picture obtained on the website of the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray parish on July 26, 2016 shows late priest Jacques Hamel celebrating a mass on June 11, 2016 in the church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy © HO / AFP

Social media users, including clergymen, are taking to Twitter to pray for the Catholic priest killed in a suspected terror attack in northern France Tuesday.

The hashtag #JeSuisPrêtre (I am priest) is being used to condemn the ongoing violence and pay respect to the priest who reportedly had his throat slit by two men who held five hostages in a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray.

Fellow clergymen have also paid respect to the 84-year-old priest,  Father Jacques Hamel, murdered in the attack.

This priest based in Paris, urged people to pray for the victims and killer and not seek vengeance.

Father Hamel’s death was confirmed by the Archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, in a statement as he urged people to pray for the victims and “not give into violence”.

Father Hamel has been described by members of the community as a warm and peaceful man.

Claude-Albert Seguin, a 68-year-old pensioner, told The Associated Press that “everyone knew him very well. He was very loved in the community and a kind man.''

Mohammed Karabila, president of the Regional Muslim Council of Normandy, told The Local he was “distressed at the death of his friend.”

“Our religious communities always worked together,” he said. “For the past 18 months, and the beginning of the attacks in France, we had meetings in the interfaith committee, and we communicated a lot.”

Father Hamel was awarded a Golden Jubilee for serving 50 years in the priesthood in 2008. At the time of the attack, he had been filling in for another priest, Auguste Moanda-Phuati, who has been the parish priest for the past five years.

"I could not possibly imagine that such a thing would happen to us," Moanda-Phuati said.

The two assailants were shot dead by police and another hostage is reported to be in a serious condition.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls took to Twitter to brand the attack as "barbaric", saying the Catholic community and France as a whole is hurting.

President  François Hollande has confirmed the incident as a terror attack at a press conference in Seine Maritime.

"We are facing a group - Daesh [IS] - who have declared war and we have to fight this war using all means possible,” he said.

IS, themselves, have also claimed responsibility for the attack.

String of attacks

The Ansbach bombing is the fourth attack in southern Germany -- and the third in the state of Bavaria -- in recent days, which also came on the heels of the Bastille Day ISIS attack in Nice, France, that killed 84 people.

A police officer stands guard in Ansbach. 

Speaking at a press conference Monday, Hermann acknowledged it had been a "very terrible week" in Bavaria.

"Yes, this was also for me personally a very terrible week, as I think it was for most of the people in Bavaria. The attack last Monday on the train in Wurzburg, then the rampage ... in Munich Friday night, and now again an attack."

The stabbing attack in Wurzburg, which authorities said appeared motivated by ISIS propaganda, has left four people hospitalized, including one in an induced coma, medical officials said.

The Munich shooting spree was carried out by an 18-year-old German-Iranian with dual nationality, who killed nine people before killing himself in a shopping district.

Police said the gunman was a mentally troubled individual who was obsessed with mass shootings and may have planned the attack for a year. Authorities have not found a link to terror groups.

And on Sunday, hours before the Ansbach attack, a 21-year-old Syrian refugee killed a Polish woman with a machete in the city of Reutlingen.

Germans were shocked by sexual assaults of women blamed on immigrants at New Year's Eve festivities in Cologne and other cities, and three Syrian men were arrested last month on suspicions they were planning to carry out a mass casualty attack in Dusseldorf.

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