Slovak PM says more attacks likely, blames migrants

By AFP 10 hours ago in World



Slovak President Robert Fico on Friday said he believed there is a high risk that fresh attacks will occur in Europe, and he blamed migrants for the threat.

In less than two weeks Islamic State group jihadists have claimed four bloody assaults in France and Germany that killed nearly 90 people, wounded hundreds and left the continent on edge.

"It is obvious that potential terrorists could have used uncontrolled migration to smuggle in weapons and explosives," said Fico, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.

"Therefore the possibility of more ... terrorist attacks is very, very high. There is potential for this," he told reporters in Bratislava.

Fico, who was re-elected on an anti-migration platform in March, added that intelligence gathered by the Slovak secret service showed "there is a link between migration and terrorism".

"During the large influx of migrants, anyone could have come here," he said.

"What on Earth do these people have in their backpacks? Why don't we take a look? Besides mineral water, food and clothes, there could be something else."


Participants hold flags and a banner during an anti-immigration rally organised by an initiative called
"Stop Islamisation of Europe" and backed by the far-right "People's Party-Our Slovakia" on September 12, 2015
in Bratislava, Slovakia Samuel Kubani, AFP

Earlier this year Fico filed a lawsuit against an EU-wide quota plan to redistribute refugees across the bloc after insisting it was committing "ritual suicide" with its acceptance of hundreds of thousands of migrants, mostly refugees from war-torn Syria.

Fico also vowed to "never bring even a single Muslim to Slovakia" ahead of the March general election, which saw a far-right party enter parliament for the first time.

His anti-migrant policies have echoed eastern EU hawks like Czech President Milos Zeman, Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban and Poland's Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

Slovak PM says more attacks likely, blames migrants