ISIS In Europe 2016: More Paris-Style ‘Sleeper Cell’Attacks In EU Expected, Defense Experts Warn

Defense analysts warned Wednesday that the terror organization known as the Islamic State group is likely to attempt more attacks in Europe and on a greater scale than in Paris in November 2015 — a massacre that left 130 dead, Politico reported. Airstrikes on the group, also known as ISIS, in Iraq and Syria, risk retaliation in allied European nations.

“The next attack is likely to be bigger,” former French intelligence official Claude Moniquet, head of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center in Brussels, told Politico. “The type of attack that intelligence and security agencies are preparing for now is a coordinated attack in multiple sites, in several major cities — two to four.”

The Paris terror attacks on Nov. 13, 2015, occurred when a group of terrorists who had pledged their allegiance to ISIS descended in coordinated attacks upon several cafes, bars, restaurants, a concert and a sports stadium, slaughtering 130 people using AK-47s and suicide bombings. It was the worst bloodshed on French soil since World War II and it shook the sense of security not only in France but across Europe and beyond.

The terrorists told their victims in Paris that the attacks were punishment for their nation's involvement in the U.S.-led coalition's airstrikes against ISIS in Syria. In a series of propaganda videos created by ISIS in the past several weeks and months, the terror group warned of attacks on the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain. While Spain is not participating in airstrikes, the groups said the attacks would be retaliation for the expulsion of Muslims from the country in the 15^th and 16^th centuries.

ISIS has been losing control of its land in Syria and Iraq, losing some 14 percent of its claimed territory in January alone, the New York Times reported. Attacks on European capitals would be seen as a much-needed symbolic victory for the militants.