ISIS threats to Spanish tourist hotspots: Terrorists put resorts where millions of Britons are expected to holiday this year on hitlist, government report warns

• The threats to Spain were found on social media, a government report claims
• Comes amid fears ISIS plans to recruit translators and Spanish speaking fighters
• The Foreign Office has pointed to its official advice for travelling to Spain

ISIS fanatics have issued 'direct threats' on Spanish tourist hotspots where millions of Britons are expected to visit this year, according to a government report.

The warnings were reportedly found on social media amid fears the terror group is also recruiting translators and foreign jihadists from the country.

Its bid to find Spanish speaking fanatics started last summer, the document claims, adding that extremists were increasingly publishing in the language.

It comes just weeks after police in San Sebastian, in the country's north, arrested a Moroccan boxing coach suspected of recruiting for ISIS. 

The 'direct threats' to Spain are outlined within an official government report, according to the Express. No specific target has been named.

But it will raise fears among holidaymakers of a repeat of the gun massacre in Tunisia in June 2015 in which ISIS fanatic Seifeddine Rezgui shot 38 people including 30 British tourists in the coastal resort of Port El Kantaoui. 

The official document claims 'ISIS has been publishing in Spanish, which means an increase in the risk of its influence on radicals living in our country'.

And it states that last year 'Daesh launched a campaign to hire Spanish translators, which suggests a growing interest in attracting Spanish-speaking foreign fighters.'

In January 2016, ISIS issued a chilling video threat to launch terror attacks in Spain, declaring: 'We will recover our land from the invaders.'

Spain is currently level four on the anti-terror alert – the same ranking as the UK. 

Around 15 million of the 65 million foreign tourists that flock to Spain every year are British. 

A Foreign Office spokesman pointed to its own official travel advice for the country, telling MailOnline this morning: 'Our online travel advice contains thorough information on staying safe abroad, including terrorism threats, and we keep it under constant review.'

Former Met Police counter terror officer David Videcette, who investigated the 7/7 London bombings, told the Olive Press that an attack on Spain was 'very possible'.

He said some Spanish resorts could be vulnerable to truck attacks like the ones that were carried out in Nice and Berlin.

'They may well be looking to attack specific countries with tourists,

'It’s very possible Costa Brava, Costa Del Sol, those sort of places could be on someone’s target list.' 

Official government guidelines for travelling to Spain says there is a 'general threat from terrorism' and that attacks 'could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners'.

Tourists are warned to be 'vigilant' amid warnings a number of Spanish nationals 'successfully travelled to Syria and Iraq.'

Just weeks ago, Spain's interior ministry said police had arrested a Moroccan boxing coach suspected of recruiting for the terror group.

The arrested man specialised in 'sending foreign fighters to Turkey where they received instructions from Daesh to commit attacks in Europe', the ministry said in a statement, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.

He was detained in San Sebastian in Spain's northern Basque Country, the statement added, without giving the suspect's name or age.

According to the ministry, the suspect had had links with a man previously detained in Morocco and another arrested in France in November, both of whom followed 'concrete and precise instructions from Daesh.'  

According to Spanish authorities, 181 alleged jihadists have been detained since 2015, when Spain increased its terror alert to category four on a five-point scale.

The country has been mentioned on extremist websites as a possible attack target for historical reasons, given Muslims ruled in Spain for close to eight centuries until 1492.

But it has been spared any incident since March 2004, when bombs exploded on commuter trains in Madrid, leaving 191 dead in attacks claimed by Al-Qaeda inspired militants. 

In November two suspected ISIS terrorists, who authorities say were willing to carry out attacks in Spain, were arrested in Barcelona and Madrid.

The Moroccan pair were 'dangerous' and 'directed and controlled' by the terror group, Spanish Ministry of Interior officials said. 

Earlier that month four people suspected of trying to recruit so-called Caliphate Cubs - child soldiers as young as 12 to fight for ISIS - were held in Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta.

And in October two Muslim preachers accused of supporting ISIS were held in the Ibizan party resort of San Antonio.