Norway must be prepared for possible terrorist attacks: intelligence service

Norway's intelligence service said Monday it must be prepared for possible terrorist attacks as more people have traveled from the Nordic country to fight in Syria and Iraq than it knows, local news media VG reported.

"We are reasonably confident that about 70 people have traveled. We assume that the real figure is significantly higher and the number continues to rise," Benedicte Bjoernland, the head of the Norwegian domestic intelligence service PST, said in a speech at Oslo Military Society.

About 15 people have been killed in the fighting while about 25 have so far returned to Norway, she added.

The experience those foreign fighters gained from their war lowers the threshold for violence when they returned home, the PST chief said, adding that their peers who do not travel could also pose a threat.

The PST still considers extremism as the biggest threat to Norway and the country must be prepared for possible terrorist attacks as extremists are behind a number of deadly attacks against other countries over the past year, including in France, she said.

In January, Norway strengthened security around major media outlets in the country after armed men attacked the offices of satire magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Endit