Norwegian intelligence authorities said Wednesday that terrorists were likely to attack the Scandinaviancountry in the coming 12 months.
The terror threat assessment was prepared by Norway's Joint Counter Terror Center, which was founded earlier this year. The center is jointly managed by Norway's Police Security Service (PST) and the Norwegian Intelligence Service.
The assessment comes in the wake of Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg's announcement last week that her country will send 120 soldiers to Iraq to join the international coalition fighting against the Islamic State militants. However, she said that Norwegian soldiers would not take part in the fighting but would provide military training to Iraqi troops.
The center said that Norway's military, police and political decision-makers were vulnerable to terror attacks by the country's decision to send troops to Iraq.
It also noted that the Islamic State as well as militants from other groups have asked its members to perpetrate terror actions against the countries which have joined the U.S. led coalition fighting against the group, reports The Associated Press.
However, the center's assessment of the threat was not high in July, when PST said that it had received reliable information of a possible terrorist attack. Norwegian police immediately swung into action and placed armed officers at airports, train stations and border intersections. But Norway called off the high alert three days later without specifying any reason.
"New threats and difficult situations may occur, perhaps with a warning, perhaps without," "We must all be prepared for new threats that may show up. That's not a state of emergency, it's the normal state," PST chief Benedicte Bjornland said in July, reports The Wall Street Journal.
