LONDON, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- France's top anti-terrorist judge says Iraq is a black hole that is radicalizing young Muslims.
In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation Friday, Jean-Louis Bruguiere said some Muslims were receiving training in Iraq before returning to Europe to carry out jihad. He also warned that the terror threat facing Europe remains very high.
Combating Islamist terrorist cells is becoming harder as they are fragmenting in unpredictable ways, he said.
Bruguiere said he was pessimistic about the immediate future, saying the terror threat in Europe and the rest of the world remained very high.
Iraq "is quite a black hole sucking up all the elements located in Europe, and pushing them to leave Europe and go to Iraq," Bruguiere said. "Some of them come back to Europe with the need and the intention of committing jihad ... in their home country in England, France, Spain, other countries in Europe.
"Some of them have training for non-conventional weapons such as chemical and biological weapons and that were quite new in 2002, 2003," he said.
