The Islamic State's Khorasan Province: Terror plots in Europe

The Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) is perceived as the biggest jihadi
terrorist threat to Europe. Yet, its operations in Europe are rarely analysed as a
coherent phenomenon. Addressing this gap, this report traces seven ISKP-linked
terror plots in Europe between 2020-2024. Facilitated by its unparalleled, multilingual propaganda output, ISKP has relied on remotely establishing contact with sympathisers physically located in Europe, subsequently guiding them in their attack planning. Moreover, the group’s plots in Europe overwhelmingly involved operatives from Central Asian and Russian (North Caucasian) diaspora groups. Based on these findings, the report outlines several policy recommendations to counter ISKP’s vast online presence, strengthen intelligence capacities and improve existing prevention programmes to the new threat. Additionally, given the EU’s strained relationships with countries such as Russia, Iran and the Afghan Taliban regime, the report also argues for expanding diplomatic engagement with other third countries affected by ISKP-related violence.