[LI] German Intelligence Agency (BND) is concerned about the Islamist ideology increasing its influence in the Balkan region, German newspapers report. The main focus of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency is the Muslim-majority country of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The agency has been alarmed by massive investments being made by Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries in the religious and Islamist infrastructure of the country.
The investments made by Arab patrons are paying off handsomely. Bosnia-Herzegovina has the highest percentage of ISIS recruits compared to any other European country, German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung confirmed. An estimated 200 Bosnians have left the country to fight for the Islamic State, a German broadcaster reported. In recent months, Bosnian Police have made several arrests and recovered large amounts of explosives and military hardware in raids across the country.
Carved out of the Communist Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992, the country of Bosnia-Herzegovina became the first Muslim-majority state of the modern Europe. Nearly 16 years later, Kosovo would declare independence from Serbia, emerging as Europe’s second Muslim-majority state. Unsurprisingly, both Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo are today hotbeds for Jihadi recruitment. In early 1990s, hundreds of ’mujahedeen’ fighters came from abroad to bolster the ranks of Bosnian Muslims forces battling the Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats. Today, Bosnian Muslims are returning the favor by exporting Jihad abroad. |