Terror in Spain Shows Islamic State Is Down Not Out

Spaniards have long lamented that Las Ramblas, the winding main artery of Barcelona, has devolved over the years from the tree-lined strolling place of Catalan flaneurs into a tourist trap filled by kitsch vendors and a cheesy sex museum. Now it will be associated with the deaths of 13 people when a van driven by a jihadi terrorist smashed into the crowded walkway on Thursday. More than 100 people were injured. It was one of several attacks along Spain's Mediterranean coast, including an explosion at a house suspected of being a bomb factory. Islamic State has claimed responsibility.

In the litany of European terrorist attacks over the last three years -- Paris, Brussels, Manchester -- the last three days in Spain were the least deadly. But in terms of European security -- and the threat still posed by a terrorist group thought to be on its last legs in Syria -- they are just as worrisome. And they are also just the tip of the iceberg: Last year, Europe suffered 47 terrorist attacks that killed 142 and injured 379. More than 90 other plots either failed or were foiled by police and security services. Nearly all were the work of Islamic extremists.