AoA,
The result of a recent annual study on terrorism by the European Polic (Europol) refute the claims linking terrorism with Islam. It proves that **99.6% **of the terrorists are from left-wing extremist and separatist groups. According to Europol, these groups are often joined by same chaotic terrorst organizations such as those defending animal rights who claimed many lives in 2008, far more than the lives which were allegedly linked to Islamist groups’ terrorst attacks.
In details, the 2010 Europol "EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report" stressed that terrorism as a big threat to Europe still held true as it was accountable for the death of 7 peoples, 5 officers and two soldiers in 2009 in addition to tens of injured civilians in Greece, North Ireland and Spain.
The annual report revealed a 33% drop in the rate of terrorist attachks in 2009 in comparison with the rate recorded in 2008. This does not mean that the European countries have a decrease the preemptive regulations they have been taking. The Study admits that terrorism from Islamic extremists is still a cause for concern despite being far less than the threats posed by extremist separatist and leftist groups.
Europol also said that he majority of the arrested Islamists were suspected to be involved in financing terrorism, of whom 15% were women, down by 15% in comparison to the 2008 figures and 10% less than the number recorded in 2007. Most of the arrested women were from separatist, not Islamic groups.
For instance a 20 year old Lithuanian woman was arrested in October 2009 before getting in Russia to commit a suicide attack there. Investigations revealed that she had converted to Islam and had been self-radicalized via the internet.
According to Blogger Danios, right wing Islamophobes continue to propagate and magnify Islamist terrorism to inflame fear and create a kind of "common hysteria" while only one attack was carried out by an Islamist suspect in 2008 in addition to another limited attack in 2009. The biggest threat is posed by Basque separtists in Spain and France. The exaggeration which describes Islamist terrorism as a threat to the existence of Europe is far from reality, he said.
Analyzing the incidents that took place in America and Europe, Europol came to affirm that the Islamist threat to the West is smaller by far than being described in media as it accounted in 2008 for just **6% **of the overall attacks in USA and **0.5% **in the European Union.
