Russia’s spy agency is claiming that Al Qaeda forces are behind a recent series of wild fires breaking out in Europe.

A senior official at Russia’s Federal Security Bureau said that detailed explanations on how and where to set fires were found on several extremist Web sites, pointing its finger at Al Qaeda as the cause of the wild fires.

The official said that setting fires in woods is a low-cost terrorist strategy to kill the enemy through small attacks.

A massive wild fire broke out near Madrid, Spain, early last month, forcing two-thousand people to evacuate. Overall, a spate of wild fires has killed dozens of people and resulted in the evacuation of thousands more in European Union countries this year.