(CNN) Nearly two-thirds of ISIS-linked arrests in Europe in the last nine months have been of teenagers, according to a landmark academic study, as concern grows among European security officials ahead of the Paris Olympics of the growing potency and reach in the West of the Islamist militant group and its affiliate ISIS-K.
The academic study of 27 ISIS-linked attacks or disrupted plots since October revealed that of the 58 suspects, 38 were aged between 13 and 19, according to Peter Neumann, professor of security studies at King’s College London. CNN was also able to verify most of Neumann’s data with European security officials. Neumann noted the latest Europol data showed “the number of attacks and planned attacks has more than quadrupled” since 2022.
The apparent uptick in the recruitment of young radicals to carry out acts of terror comes as European security officials express worries at a potential resurgence of organized — or “directed” — terror attacks.
