MidEast

  • Print Friendly, PDF & Email
  • Send to Kindle

Western Authorities Search for Response in Wake of Islamist Terror Wave

by TheTower.org Staff |

At least five separate attacks by Islamists in Europe, Africa and Asia claimed over 200 lives on Friday.

The New York Times reported:

In France, attackers stormed an American-owned industrial chemical plant near Lyon, tried unsuccessfully to blow up the factory, and left behind a decapitated corpse.

In Tunisia, at least one gunman disguised as a vacationer opened fire at a beach resort, killing at least 37 people before security forces shot him to death, officials said.

And the Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in one of the largest Shiite mosques in Kuwait City during Friday prayers. The bomb filled the hall with smoke and left dead and wounded scattered on the carpet, according to witnesses and videos posted online. Local news reports said at least 25 people had been killed and wounded in the assault, which was extraordinary for Kuwait and appeared to be a deliberate attempt to incite strife between Shiites and Sunnis.

In addition, 142 people in the Kurdish-majority Syrian city of Kobane were killed by members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), who carried out a rampage in the city.

The Los Angeles Times reported:

Idriss Naasan, vice minister for foreign affairs in Kobani’s Kurdish administration, said Islamic State’s aim was to terrorize the population of the community near the Turkish border, which was the scene of heavy fighting last year.

“They tried to kill the largest number of civilians, so they roamed around neighborhoods and targeted them,” said Naasan, explaining that many women and children had been taken hostage by the militant group, complicating efforts to rout the extremists from the town.

He said the YPG, a Syrian Kurdish militia that has emerged as a powerful force against Islamic State, “has them surrounded from four points, but fighting continues because they are using civilians as human shields.”

An attack by Al Shabaab in Somalia killed at least nine people, the Associated Press reported Friday.

Mohammed Haji, an official in the Lower Shabelle region told The Associated Press by telephone that militants attacked the base entrance with a suicide car bomb before gunmen began their assault.

“They managed to infiltrate the entrance after the blast — it was a complex attack,” said. He estimated that up to 25 combatants may have been killed, but there was no way to verify his claim. Other reports spoke of at least nine dead.

Earlier this year, ISIS attempted to recruit Al Shabaab to join its cause.

“It appears to be an effort to launch and inspire a wave of attacks across three continents, reminiscent of Al Qaeda’s simultaneous multiple attacks of the past,” terrorism expert Bruce Riedel told The New York Times.

The Institute for the Study of War, predicted earlier this month that ISIS could try “to mark the anniversary by building upon or surpassing its declaration of the caliphate last year. Isis could do so by accomplishing new military objectives, striking religious targets, or announcing a new political milestone.” The leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared a caliphate late June last year.

[Photo: BBC News / YouTube ]

tt