2015 record year for terror attacks in Europe

A new report from Europol, the European Union law enforcement agency, shows a record number of terror attacks in Europe.

The report shows a marked increase, compared to previous years, in arrests for terrorist activity.

According to the report, 1,077 people were arrested in EU countries in 2015 for terrorist activity. This shows an increase from 2014, in which there 774 arrests for terrorist activity.

Of those arrested lasted year for terrorism, 687 were linked to jihadist terrorism.

In addition, a whopping 211 terror attacks were attempted or completed last year in EU Member States, with 151 deaths and over 360 injured as a result of terrorism.

Europol also noted that the statistics are reinforced by two new "worrying developments:" namely, " substantial numbers of [...] foreign terrorist fighters that many Member States now have on their soil, and the significant rise in nationalist (xenophobic), racist and anti-Semitic sentiments across the EU[...]"

While Europol asserted that " there is no concrete evidence to date that terrorist travellers systematically use the flow of refugees to enter Europe unnoticed," it did note that two of the terrorists in Paris attacks of Novemeber 13 had entered Europe along with a large group of refugees from Syria.