As the Islamic State continues to lose ground in the Middle East, the terrorist group will likely refocus on carrying out attacks against "soft" targets within the European Union, EU police agency Europol warned in a report published Friday.
The report cited estimates from intelligence services indicating that there may be "several dozen people directed" by ISIS currently present in Europe "with a capability to commit terrorist attacks," CBS News reported.
While assailants will likely continue using guns, knives, and bombs to carry out attacks, the report warns the group may begin deploying tactics used in Iraq in Syria, like car bombs and kidnapping.
Authorities said members of the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS jihadists are particularly at risk of attack by both networked groups and lone-wolf terrorists. Those nations include France, Belgium, Britain, the Netherlands, and Denmark, among others.
"We have to be vigilant, since the threat posed by the so-called Islamic State and returning foreign fighters is likely to persist in the coming years," said Gilles de Kerchove, the EU counterterrorism coordinator, the Wall Street Journal reported. "These people are trained to use explosives and firearms and they have been indoctrinated by the jihadist ideology."
Europol noted that terrorists will likely pull away from targeting military and police personnel and instead focus on "soft" targets as seen in the November 2014 massacre in Paris that killed 130 people. France remains "high on the target list" of ISIS, according to the report.
"Indiscriminate attacks have a very powerful effect on the public in general, which is one of the main goals of terrorism: to seriously intimidate a population," the report said, downplaying the threat of attacks against critical infrastructure like power grids.