“IT WAS a time-bomb; merely a matter of when,” sighs Rafiq, a young man who runs a newspaper stand in Vilvoorde, a suburb of Brussels. Surrounded by papers with pictures of the bombers who killed at least 31 people in the Belgian capital on Tuesday, Rafiq says he is certain that more will follow in their footsteps. “In Molenbeek it’s all out in the open. It’s well-known that terrorists live there. Here, it’s more hidden.”
Vilvoorde is less notorious than Molenbeek, a Brussels suburb that has become synonymous with jihadists and their sympathisers. Yet Vilvoorde has at least as troubling a history. Between 2012 and 2014 this town, just ten minutes from the Zaventem airport, is thought to have produced more recruits for foreign jihadist groups, as a share of Muslim residents, than anywhere else in western Europe. With a large Muslim population conveniently located on the Antwerp-Brussels train line, it proved an easy hunting ground for recruiters who persuaded 28 young men to leave for Syria.
Khadija Boulahrir, who now works in Brussels, still cannot believe that her former playmates joined Islamic State (IS). “I grew up with...Continue reading
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