Terrorist organization Islamic State planned to hit more targets during the terrorist attacks in Paris in November last year. The other targets included more places in France and other countries, including the Netherlands, American news agency CNN reports.
CNN’s report is based from about 90 thousand pages of European investigative documents, interviews with terrorist experts and sources involved in the investigation that was launched after the attacks on Paris on November 13th. The news agency does not elaborate what exactly the other targets were, but does mention the Netherlands by name.
According to the news agency, the documents show that the two terrorists who committed a suicide bombing attack at the national Stadium in Paris, came to Europe in October last year using the Balkan route from Syria to Austria. Two other men, a Pakistani and an Algerian both suspected ISIS operatives, traveled with them.
Investigators are convinced that the Pakistani and Algerian were supposed to take part in the Paris attacks, but they were detained in Greece after customs officers discovered their fake passports. They were released in late October and traveled to Austria. They applied for asylum in Salzburg on November 14th, a day after the attacks in Paris, where they were tracked down and arrested in the Paris Attacks aftermath. According to investigators, they were waiting for further instructions on a new target as they were too late to take part in the Paris Attacks.
Their questioning and investigation into their mobile phones gave the investigators more insight on how ISIS operates in sending terrorists to Europe. The Pakistani and Algerian were given enough information and money to reach the next leg of their journey, but nothing more. They weren’t told what exactly would happen or would be expected of them, only that they are “doing something good for God”. They were also given pseudonyms to use, even when talking to each other.
