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Jihadism in the Balkans: new jihadist networks in Bosnia

02 July 2014

EFD Researcher Giovanni Giacalone writes that, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, instability in Bosnia provided fertile ground for the spread of Wahhabism from Saudi Arabia.

Giovanni highlights two phases in which jihadist networks were established in Bosnia: the infiltration phase, which began in the early 1990s, that saw radical Islamists, mostly from Afghanistan, fighting alongside local Muslims in order to infiltrate established communities; and the development phase, which began in 1995, and saw the jihadists strengthening their influence and encouraging the spread of radical Islam.

 

This article was originally published here.