counterextremism  _ The Spanish government’s 2019 counterterrorism strategy concluded that “the activity of lone actors and cells radicalized by themselves in Spanish territory” present the greatest threat to Spain. The 2004 Madrid train bombings and the 2017 attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils were orchestrated primarily by Moroccan nationals that had been radicalized while living in Spain.

Of the 21 Moroccans implicated in the devastating 11-M attacks, 19 had reportedly been radicalized in Spain. Similarly, eight of the 10 individuals involved in the 2017 Barcelona and Cambrils attacks were Moroccan nationals that had been radicalized in Spain by Abdelbaki Essati, a local imam from the city of Ripoll. Analysts believe that Essati, who died in an explosion on the day before the vehicular attack in Barcelona, communicated with members of ISIS’s external operations wing. (Sources:El Pais, Combating Terrorism Center, BBC News, Combating Terrorism Center, Combatting Terrorism Center,

Of those arrested in Spain between 2013 and 2016 for Islamist-terror related activities, 42 percent were Spaniards and 43 percent were Moroccans, according to an empirical study published by West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center. The study found that 90 percent of the detainees had been partially or entirely radicalized while living in Spain. (Source: Combating Terrorism Center)

As of February 2019, 139 individuals were imprisoned in Spain on terrorism-related charges. The government has identified 120 inmates in Spanish prisons—all imprisoned on non-terrorism-related charges—at risk of radicalization. Spanish authorities have also identified 49 inmates imprisoned on petty crime charges who have been radicalized and work to recruit others in prison.

A reported 81 prisoners show signs of increasing radicalization. Since 2018, Spanish authorities have broken up at least two extremist recruitment networks inside Spanish prisons. According to authorities, these networks sought to radicalize Muslims imprisoned for non-extremist crimes.

A February 2019 prison raid identified a recruitment ring offering €500,000 to €1 million to any prisoner willing to commit suicide attacks after their release from prison. The money reportedly came from international drug trafficking. (Sources: El Pais, Government of Spain, El Pais)

Like other European countries, Spain has seen a rise in online radicalization. “Islam en Español,” a Facebook page that glorified ISIS and promoted militancy, had approximately 32,500 followers in September 2016. Following the 2017 attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils, ISIS reportedly released its first propaganda video in Spanish. In the video.

a man identified as Abu Lais Al Qurdubi from Cordoba, encouraged Muslim viewers to “carry out jihad where you are” and said that “Allah willing, Al Andalus will become again what is was, part of the caliphate.” (Sources: Reuters, Deutsche Welle, USA Today)

Islamic extremists have targeted women, in particular, in online recruitment. In December 2014, Spanish and Moroccan police arrested seven individuals that had reportedly recruited 12 women online to travel to ISIS-held territory to join the terrorist organization. Following ISIS’s Paris attacks on November 13, 2015.

ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, reportedly “tried to recruit Spaniards, especially women, through social networks to join and fight with Daesh… to repopulate the caliphate.” (Sources: Reuters, International Business Times) In recent years, Spanish cities in North Africa such as Melilla and Ceuta have increasingly become a locus for recruitment.

In August 2014, Spanish and Moroccan police broke up a nine-person cell that was radicalizing and sending new recruits from Ceuta and neighboring cities in Morocco to ISIS-held territory in Iraq and Syria. A month later, another ISIS recruitment network was dismantled in Melilla and Nador, a city in Morocco.

On May 20, 2014, Spanish authorities broke up a Melilla-based cell reportedly responsible for radicalizing and sending 26 individuals to fight with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). According to an NPR article published in 2015, several female ISIS recruiters have been arrested in Ceuta for targeting Spanish women online. (Sources: Business Insider, Al Arabiya, New York Post, CNN, El Mundo, NPR)

According to an Arab Weekly report in October 2017, Catalan authorities have noticed an increased Muslim Brotherhood presence in the region. The Brotherhood in Catalonia have reportedly been trying to organize forums, build schools, and provide social services in an attempt to gain legitimacy in the region, sparking concerns about a greater spread of extremist ideology. (Source: Arab Weekly).