Boys sucked into violent online networks and carrying out far-right attacks
Young men and boys with personal struggles, who are socially isolated and who have a 'persistent interest in weapons' are getting sucked into extremist online communities and carrying out far-right attacks, an EU report has said.
European police said these young people were typically not targeting specific groups in their attacks but 'society in general', which they see as 'oppressive or unresponsive to their needs'.
Parallel with this, Europol, the EU police agency, is concerned at the rise in online 'occultist and satanic communities' — such as '764' or 'Com' networks — that are overlapping with far-right extremists.
The 2025 European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (EU TE-SAT) said these developments were part of a wider trend among terrorist groups to target young people, who are vulnerable or isolated, and give them a 'sense of belonging'.
It said the trend of growing involvement of young people, including minors, in terrorism is also strongly seen in jihadists violence.
More than a third of the 289 people arrested for jihadist attacks in the EU in 2024 were under the age of 20. Of these, 62 (21%) were minors, aged between 13 and 17.
This included the 16-year-old boy in Galway who carried out a sustained knife attack on a chaplain at an army barracks in August 2024.
The juvenile, sentenced this year to eight years for the attempted murder of Fr Paul Murphy, converted to Islam aged 15 and quickly self-radicalised online in Islamic State material, including graphic beheadings.
The court heard the boy had struggled with the break-up of his parents' marriage and found school difficult and was "isolated". Defence counsel said the boy sought refuge online in a radical community with a "poisonous belief system".
The judge noted the boy had 'significant traits' of autism spectrum disorder, which was undiagnosed at the time, and had an 'obsessive personality'. He noted the boy was also 'socially awkward and isolated'.
Overall the EU TE-SAT reports:
58 terrorist attacks across 14 member states, compared to 120 in 2023 and 28 in 2022;
The 58 attacks comprised 34 completed attacks, five failed and 19 foiled;
24 of the attacks were attributed to jihadist terrorism, compared to 14 in 2023 and six in 2022;
One right-wing extremist attack in 2024, two in 2023 and four in 2022;
449 arrests for terrorist offences in 2024, compared to 426 in 2023 and 380 in 2022;
289 arrests were for jihadist attacks (334 in 2023 and 266 in 2022);
47 arrests were for right-wing extremist attacks (26 in 2023 and 45 in 2022).
It said the most common profile of violent right-wing extremists active online was 'young males, often minors'.
The report said these individuals frequently had mental health issues and many showed a high incidence of personal struggles, such as familial dysfunction, problematic interactions, social exclusion and other socio-economic challenges.
It said these factors 'often served as a catalyst for their violent behaviour'.
The report said: 'These individuals habitually shared a fascination for weapons and explosives, various violent ideologies and mass shooters. The sense of social isolation leads often to a 'lone-wolf' mentality, with no direct connection to organised groups but still driven by the same underlying psychological problems and grievances.
Such grievances are not against specific persons, but against society in general, which they see as oppressive or unresponsive to their needs. For them, the internet becomes a virtual refuge where they can find a sense of belonging and validation.
Parallel with this, the report cites a 'substantial increase' in online propaganda that combines far-right material, child sexual abuse imagery, occultism and Satanism.
It said that, despite constant counter-terrorism efforts, there was an 'incessant growing number' of new online services, typically through messaging apps and encrypted communication.
It said the use of generative AI to create such material, and hate speech, had reached 'unprecedented levels'.
The report said the attention of young people online towards school shootings outside the EU also increased, 'especially' among minors and young adults, who were 'sharing information on perpetrators, their manifestos and even threatening to commit one themselves'.
It said a 'persistent interest' of violent right-wing extremists in weapons and explosives was reflected in seizures, including of 3D printed firearms.
The report said: 'Those firearms frequently appear not to be solely intended for attacks, but part of a particular lifestyle that evolves around self-defence, martial arts and survival skills.'
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