In the 1990s , extremist jihadists of the al-Jama ' a al-Islamiyya were active in the attacks on police , government officials and tourists in Egypt , and Armed Islamic Group of Algeria was a principal group in the Algerian Civil War . The most famous jihadist-Salafist attack is the September 11 , 2001 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda . While Salafism had next-to-no presence in Europe in the 1980s , Salafist jihadists had by the mid-2000s acquired " a burgeoning presence in Europe , having attempted more than 30 terrorist attacks among E.U. countries since 2001 . " While many see the influence and activities of Salafi jihadists as in decline after 2000 ( at least in the United States ) , others see the movement as growing , in the wake of the Arab Spring and the breakdown of state control in Libya and Syria
September 11 , 2001 attacks
September 11 attacks
Salafi jihadism